IETEENTH  CENTURY 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERj 


HEJEWIvf    PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  (.»F  AMER 


UBRARY 


CAUFOWttK 

SAN  DIEGO 


SPECIAL  SERIES  No.  8 

JEWS  AND  JUDAISM 

IN  THE 

NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


BY 

GUSTAV   KARPELES 


TRANSLATED  FROM  THE  GERMAN 


PHILADELPHIA 
THE  JEWISH   PUBLICATION  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

1905 


JEWS  AND  JUDAISM  IN  THE 
NINETEENTH  CENTURY 


We  are  standing  on  the  border  line  between  two 
centuries,  a  solemn  moment  which  it  behooves  us 
to  use  for  a  review  of  the  past  and  a  survey  of  the 
future.  To  review  the  past  will  naturally  be  more 
profitable  than  to  survey  the  future.  A  retrospect 
can  yield  instruction,  but  our  view  of  the  future  is 
obscured  by  enveloping  fog  and  heavy  clouds. 
Sentimental  reflections,  however,  avail  naught.  A 
long  history  overflowing  with  pain  has  taught  the 
Jew  the  truth  of  what  the  Preacher  uttered  from 
out  of  the  fulness  of  his  experience :  "  The  genera- 
tions come,  and  the  generations  go,  the  earth  stands 
forever."  Nearly  the  same  thought  is  expressed  by 
one  of  the  archangels  in  the  Prologue  to  Faust,  in 
his  greeting  to  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  of  eternity : 

"  The  sun-orb  sings,  in  emulation, 

'Mid  brother-spheres,  his  ancient  round : 
His  path  predestined  through  Creation 
He  ends  with  step  of  thunder-sound." 

Eternity  has  neither  days,  nor  years,  nor  seons, 
but  man  in  his  finitude  must  needs  tell  off  a  begin- 


8  JEWS  AND  JUDAISM 

ning  and  an  end  on  the  circle  of  everlasting  life 
and  death,  and  his  divisions  testify,  not  to  his  fini- 
tude  alone,  but  also  to  his  arbitrariness. 

And  yet  few  will  agree  with  the  learned  German 
professor  who  calls  it  the  naivete  of  a  child  or  of 
a  barbarian  that  makes  us  see  something  peculiarly 
demoniac  in  the  day  designated  by  human  device  as 
the  beginning  of  a  century.  Century  festivals  go 
back  to  remote  times.  The  ancients  celebrated  them 
with  full  consciousness  of  the  serious  demands  of 
their  day  and  of  the  problems  awaiting  solution. 
As  the  Hellenes  of  days  long  gone  by  derived  fresh 
courage  for  their  combats  from  their  civic  celebra- 
tions, so  we  moderns  ought  to  emerge  from  the 
close  of  a  circumscribed,  well-defined  epoch  in  our 
development  fortified  and  reinvigorated  for  the 
work  with  which  the  future  is  surcharged.  From 
this  point  of  view  an  historical  retrospect  has  prac- 
tical value  and  ethical  significance. 

What  has  the  century  just  closed  given  to  modern 
Judaism?  When  we  settle  up  our  account  with  the 
century,  what  is  the  balance  to  our  credit?  These 
are  the  questions  that  require  an  answer. 

It  may  safely  be  assumed  that  none  is  inclined 
to  dispute  the  statement  that  the  nineteenth  century 
was  one  of  the  most  momentous  in  the  history  of 
Judaism.  Perhaps  no  one  century  since  that  of 
the  destruction  of  the  Temple  and  the  birth  of  Jesus 
has  equalled  it  in  importance.  Or,  not  to  go  back 
to  so  remote  a  period,  can  it  be  gainsaid  that  since 
the  expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Spain,  an  interval 
of  four  hundred  years,  the  inner  and  outer  develop- 


IN   THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  9 

ment  of  Judaism  has  suffered  no  such  radical 
changes  as  in  the  nineteenth  century? 

Historians  call  it  the  age  of  growing  self- 
consciousness.  This  description  does  not  convey 
exhaustively  the  significance  of  its  content.  At  best 
such  historical  summing  up  is  a  hazardous  practice. 
For  definite  views  and  sure  results  a  description  of 
events  is  more  to  the  purpose. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  psychic  and  the 
external  material  offered  by  the  century  makes  it 
appear  that  seven  great  currents  flow  through  its 
history.  They  succeed  or  overlap  one  another, 
sometimes  their  courses  intersect,  and  again  they 
flow  along  peacefully  in  parallel  lines. 

The  first  of  these  currents  prevailed  in  the  time 
of  ferment  and  combat,  when  apostasy  and  baptism 
were  the  order  of  the  day.  The  second  is  denomi- 
nated the  science  of  Judaism.  The  third  is  the 
struggle  for  political  emancipation.  The  fourth  is 
marked  by  religious  reform  conflicts,  the  fifth  by 
assimilative  tendencies,  the  sixth  by  anti-Semitism, 
and  the  seventh  by  the  rise  and  concentration  of 
"  Young  Israel."  For  the  sake  of  those  who  insist 
upon  time  limits  it  may  be  said  that  the  first  two 
currents  characterize  the  first  quarter  of  the  century ; 
the  next  two,  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  the  last 
three,  the  closing  quarter.  But  it  cannot  be  repeated 
too  often  that  all  such  summaries  and  divisions  are 
full  of  pitfalls,  against  which  the  student  must  be 
on  his  guard.  For  our  purpose  it  is  more  profitable 
to  pass  the  important  events  in  review,  and  trace 
the  course  of  each  stream  from  its  source  to  its 
mouth. 


IO  JEWS    AND   JUDAISM 

The  first  point  that  demands  consideration  is  the 
appearance  of  Judaism  at  the  opening"  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  mass  of  the  Jews  lived  an 
unthinking  routine  life.  Of  the  transformation 
about  to  take  place,  they  had  scarce  a  suspicion. 
The  religious  attitude  was  on  the  whole  what  it  had 
been  three  or  four  hundred  years  earlier.  Religious 
customs  were  rigidly  observed,  in  the  synagogue  and 
in  the  home  alike.  Of  spiritualization,  of  an  inner 
exalted  feeling,  there  was  not  a  trace.  No  one  had 
heard  of  the  ethical  mission  of  Judaism.  Political 
oppression  was  but  little  less  galling  than  before ;  in 
the  countries  of  the  East,  indeed,  it  weighed  even 
more  heavily  upon  the  Jews  than  formerly.  Yet 
a  breath  of  the  new  time  had  stolen  its  way  into 
the  narrow  Jew  streets.  The  young  people  were 
familiarizing  themselves  with  secular  culture,  and 
they  were  beginning  to  nurse  religious  doubts. 

The  rapid  progress  of  the  Jew  in  modern  living 
is  astounding.  Scarcely  ten  years  after  the  death  of 
Moses  Mendelssohn  there  were  Jewish  circles  in 
Berlin,  Breslau^  and  Konigsberg,  even  in  Vienna 
and  in  Paris,  in  which  the  new  attitude  toward  the 
problems  of  life  had  completely  established  itself. 
From  the  Jewish  salons  in  Berlin  and  Vienna  a 
generation  fared  forth  which  had  armed  itself  for 
war  against  the  old  order.  The  Jewish  women 
pointed  the  way,  the  full-grown  men  were  not  yet 
able  to  follow  them,  the  only  ones  that  kept  pace  with 
them  were  the  young  enthusiasts  who  had  greedily 
drunk  in  Lessing's  Nathan  and  the  ideas  of  Voltaire 
and  Rousseau. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  II 

Affairs  in  Berlin  were  typical  of  the  Jewish  condi- 
tions of  the  day.  The  Prussian  capital  was  the  centre 
of  Jewish  life,  the  meeting  place  of  the  West  and  the 
East,  of  the  Slavic  element  with  the  Teutonic  ele- 
ment. These  two  elements  were  still  mutually  exclu- 
sive, instead  of  complementary,  as  they  are  in  reality, 
seeing  that  the  one  exercises  conservative  force 
within  modern  Judaism,  and  the  other  creative  force. 
Put  the  two  names  Hirschel  Lewin  and  Rahel  Levin 
next  to  each  other,  and  the  whole  abyss  yawning 
between  the  old  and  the  new  is  uncovered.  Hirschel 
Lewin,  the  chief  rabbi  of  the  Berlin  community 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  is  the  representa- 
tive of  the  old ;  Rahel  Levin,  the  wife  of  Varnhagen 
von  Ense,  is  the  typical  representative  of  the  new. 
These  two  did  not  speak  the  same  language.  From 
Rahel's  salon,  in  which  noted  diplomats,  princes  of 
the  intellect,  members  of  the  royal  family,  poets, 
and  warriors,  moved  on  a  footing  of  intimacy,  no 
bridge  led  to  the  Synagogue  of  the  Heidereuter- 
gasse,  where  the  services  were  conducted  entirely 
in  Hebrew,  with  as  strict  regard  to  tradition  as  in 
the  remotest  corners  of  Russia  or  Galicia.  Com- 
promise was  out  of  the  question,  an  agreement  not 
to  be  thought  of,  a  separation  inevitable. 

An  attempt  to  signalize  the  inner  division  by  an 
outer,  visible  act  had  been  made  by  a  disciple  of 
Moses  Mendelssohn.  The  well-known  David  Fried- 
lander  has  frequently  been  held  up  to  reprobation 
for  his  letter  to  the  Provost  Teller  (1799),  in  which 
he  announced  his  determination  and  that  of  his  fol- 
lowers to  accept  Christianity,  provided  the  Church 


12  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

would  exempt  them  from  subscribing  to  her  histori- 
cal doctrines.  They  were  prepared  to  accept  the 
Christian  doctrines  of  the  reason,  but  they  could 
never  go  the  length  of  the  dogma  of  a  Son  of  God. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  held  in  common  with 
Christians  the  belief  in  the  unity  of  God,  the  in- 
corporeality  and  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the 
destiny  of  man  to  aspire  to  perfection  and  happiness. 
The  reader  of  history  knows  with  what  scorn  the 
petitioners  were  repulsed. 

In  their  despondency  at  the  rebuff  no  alternative 
presented  itself  but  the  extreme  measure  of  accepting 
Christianity  in  the  gross,  historical  truths  and  all 
the  rest.  Friedlander  and  his  confreres,  indeed,  did 
not  arrive  at  this  logically  correct  conclusion,  but 
their  children  and  grandchildren  did.  A  veritable 
mania  for  baptism  began  to  manifest  itself.  It 
possessed  not  only  the  ladies  of  the  salons,  but  also 
the  less  aristocratic  circles,  the  circles  of  the  clerks 
and  servant-maids.  In  the  first  quarter  of  the 
century  a  large  part  of  the  Jewish  community  of 
Berlin,  in  the  opinion  of  some  authorities  fully  half 
its  members,  were  converted  to  Christianity.  The 
same  happened  in  Konigsberg,  Frankfort,  Breslau, 
and  other  large  cities. 

With  baptism  immorality  increased.  The  Jews 
but  followed  the  example  set  them  by  their  non- 
Jewish  environment.  "  Vices  prevailed  among  us," 
is  the  text  of  one  lamentation,  "  which  our  fathers 
had  not  known,  and  which  were  purchased  dearly 
at  any  price.  Irreligiousness,  debauchery,  and 
effeminacy,  the  weeds  that  sprout  up  out  of  the  abuse 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  13 

of  enlightenment  and  culture,  have,  alas,  taken  root 
among-  us.  Especially  in  the  capital  cities  we  are 
exposed  to  the  peril  of  having  the  austerity  and 
simplicity  of  our  morals  swept  away  by  the  stream 
of  luxury."  Of  the  converts  the  same  author  says, 
that  "  they  resembled  the  moth  fluttering  about  the 
flame  until  it  is  finally  consumed."  But  a  contempo- 
rary of  this  writer  consoles  himself  with  the 
reflection  that  the  converts  "  are  but  chips  shaved  off 
from  an  unwieldy  colossus;  the  colossus  is  only 
strengthened  by  their  removal."  Time  has  proved 
him  right. 

This  "Berlin  religion"  naturally  became  the  horror 
of  the  pious,  who,  bearing  its  excesses  in  mind, 
were  all  the  more  solicitous  to  keep  themselves  aloof 
from  modern  educational  movements.  So  it  was  in 
Berlin,  so  in  Vienna,  so  also  in  Paris  where,  by  the 
doctrine  of  the  "  rights  of  man,"  Jews  were  trans- 
formed in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  into  full-fledged 
citizens.  In  France,  accordingly,  the  gap  between 
the  civil  and  the  social  position  of  the  Jews  was  not 
so  great  as  in  Germany.  By  convening  a  Jewish 
Assembly  of  Notables  and,  following  close  upon  it, 
a  Synhedrion  to  exercise  jurisdiction  as  the  supreme 
ecclesiastic  authority  over  the  Jews  of  France  and 
her  dependencies,  Napoleon  created  new  institu- 
tions in  Judaism,  and  at  first  sight  it  seemed  great 
and  important  institutions  for  the  Jews.  In  a  decree 
dated  May  30,  1806,  the  Emperor  ordered  that,  in 
the  month  of  July  of  the  same  year,  a  conference  of 
"  the  most  prominent  among  the  Jews  be  convened." 
To  this  body  the  Emperor  communicated  his  wishes, 


14  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

Its  other  function  was  to  formulate,  for  the  Imperial 
representatives,  a  plan  considered  effective  "  in  stim- 
ulating the  Jews  of  the  Empire  to  take  up  the  prac- 
tice of  arts  and  crafts,  in  order  that  they  might  learn 
to  substitute  dignified  callings  for  the  disgraceful 
occupations  to  which  for  generations  and  centuries 
they  had  largely  devoted  themselves."  The  enthu- 
siasm with  which  the  Jews  greeted  this  decree  can 
hardly  be  imagined.  Little  lacked  and  they  had 
journeyed  from  the  various  countries  of  Europe  to 
Paris  to  pay  homage  to  the  Emperor  as  a  new 
Messiah. 

On  July  26,  1806, — it  was  a  Saturday, — the  hun- 
dred Notables  who  had  been  summoned  assembled 
in  the  Hotel  de  Ville.  Some  came  on  foot,  and  their 
ballots  had  been  filled  out  before  the  Sabbath ;  others 
came-  in  carriages,  and  ostentatiously  wrote  out  their 
ballots  at  the  meeting.  So  the  crass  opposition  be- 
tween the  representatives  of  the  old  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  new  within  Judaism  stood  revealed 
from  the  first. 

The  Emperor  put  twelve  questions  to  the  assem- 
blage: Are  Jews  permitted  to  practice  polygamy? 
Does  the  Jewish  law  permit  divorce  ?  May  a  Jewess 
marry  a  Christian  ?  Are  Frenchmen  brethren  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Jews,  or  strangers  ?  What  is  the  attitude 
of  Jews  toward  non-Jews  prescribed  by  the  Jewish 
religion  ?  Do  the  Jews  born  there  consider  that  they 
owe  allegiance  to  France?  Who  appoints  the  Rab- 
bis? What  jurisdiction  do  the  Rabbis  exercise  over 
Jews?  Is  the  authority  of  the  Rabbis  regulated  by 
written  laws  or  by  tradition  ?  Are  certain  vocations 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  15 

forbidden  to  Jews  by  their  religion  ?  Does  the  Jew- 
ish law  prohibit  usury  in  dealings  with  Jews,  and 
enjoin  it  in  dealings  with  non-Jews? 

The  Notables  had  no  difficulty  in  answering  these 
questions  satisfactorily.  They  went  so  far  as  to  de- 
clare mixed  marriages  as  permitted.  When  the  sixth 
question  was  read,  inquiring  into  the  patriotic  senti- 
ments of  Jews,  and  whether  they  considered  them- 
selves called  upon  to  defend  France  in  the  hour  of 
her  peril,  the  whole  assembly  to  a  man  sprang  to  its 
feet,  and  cried  out  with  enthusiasm :  "  Unto  death !  " 

Napoleon  was  pleased.  In  order  to  have  the  reso- 
lutions passed  by  the  Notables  ratified  and  invested 
with  binding  power,  he  summoned  a  meeting  of 
forty-six  Rabbis  and  twenty-five  laymen  at  Paris. 
The  assembly  was  to  bear  the  name  and  play  the  part 
of  the  Great  Synhedrion. 

This  imposing  gathering  met  for  the  first  time  on 
February  9,  1807.  On  the  whole  it  confirmed  the 
resolutions  of  the  Notables,  only  the  mixed  mar- 
riages clause  failed  to  receive  unqualified  assent. 
The  Synhedrion  maintained  that  from  the  point  of 
view  of  Judaism  such  marriages  could  not  be  con- 
sidered valid.  But  the  right  of  Rabbis  to  persecute 
the  parties  to  a  mixed  marriage  was  denied;  espe- 
cially, the  ban  of  excommunication  could  not  be  pro- 
nounced against  them.  The  sessions  of  the  Syn- 
hedrion lasted  a  whole  month.  Examined  to-day,  a 
century  later,  in  the  light  of  history,  the  resolutions 
of  this  Synhedrion  and  its  whole  activity  reveal 
nothing  of  supreme  importance  or  authoritativeness 
in  the  development  of  Jews  and  Judaism,  unless  an 


l6  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

exception  be  made  in  favor  of  the  one  point,  that  it 
was  the  first  occasion  on  which  Rabbinical  authori- 
ties enunciated  a  distinction  between  the  unchange- 
able character  of  the  moral  law  given  at  Sinai  and 
the  changeable  law  applicable  only  to  definite  times 
and  conditions. 

This  differentiation  involved  several  fundamental 
fallacies,  which  were  to  bring  forth  troublesome  con- 
sequences. The  principle  laying  down  the  right  of 
a  given  generation  to  inaugurate  a  spiritual  reform 
had  been  connected  by  the  Synhedrion  with  an  ex- 
ternal purpose,  with  civil  emancipation.  This  was  a 
concession  fraught  with  serious  possibilities.  A  sec- 
ond mistake  was  even  more  dangerous.  The  Syn- 
hedrion had  given  color  to  the  notion  that  the  law 
could  be  abrogated  by  some  human  authority,  which 
thus  could  exercise  binding  and  absolving  power 
over  the  adherents  of  Judaism. 

The  whole  episode  was  practically  without  effect 
upon  the  modern  development  of  Judaism.  In 
France  itself  it  left  a  trace  in  the  institution  of  the 
consistories,  which  with  some  modifications  remain 
in  force  to  the  present  day.  After  a  century's  trial 
it  may  be  said  that  the  institution  has  not  redounded 
to  the  good  of  Judaism  in  France.  To  the  observer 
it  is  apparent  that  ecclesiastical  government  by  con- 
sistory is  "  not  a  factor  encouraging  the  development 
of  an  independent  religious  life  growing  out  of  the 
religious  consciousness  of  the  community." 

Salvation  had  to  be  looked  for  from  other  quarters. 

A  heavy  crisis  impended  over  Judaism.     Not  as 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  17 

development  takes  place  in  nature,  slowly,  steadily, 
in  imperceptible  gradations,  but  by  leaps  and  bounds, 
in  wild  haste,  the  spirit  released  from  the  shackles  of 
the  middle  ages  rushed  into  the  new  paths  leading  to 
extreme  changes.  There  had  been  timid  reforms  by 
sober  architects  like  Israel  Jacobson  and  his  asso- 
ciates. They  had  ventured  so  far  as  to  introduce 
organs  into  the  synagogues,  and  German  prayers,  in 
the  effort  to  repair  the  roof,  though  the  very  pillars 
of  the  house  were  tottering.  The  younger  genera- 
tion in  its  zeal  outstripped  them  by  far.  The  more 
sensible  of  them  admitted  that  a  perilous  abyss  was 
yawning  between  the  young  people  and  the  traditions 
of  their  forebears.  It  could  not  be  bridged  over. 
The  state  of  the  case  was  simple:  the  old  was  de- 
fended by  the  Old  Guard — the  guard  that  may  die 
but  never  surrenders — and  even  the  new  was  no 
longer  new  enough  for  the  new  generation. 

The  reform  of  the  synagogue  ritual  introduced 
between  1815  and  1819  in  Cassel,  Hamburg,  and 
Berlin,  was  imitated  in  other  urban  centres.  This 
reform  was  at  best  but  a  timid  attempt  to  reach  out 
for  the  better,  for  knowledge,  for  a  return  to  the 
essence  of  what  had  been  abandoned.  What  it  lacked 
was  a  most  important  element.  It  had  no  solid  his- 
torical basis,  no  scientific  foundation.  Other  efforts 
to  raise  Judaism  and  reinstate  it  in  the  esteem  of  its 
adherents  likewise  bore  no  result.  Two  periodical 
publications  in  German  and  one  in  English  were 
known  only  to  small  circles  of  Jews.  They  were 
patterned  after  the  "  moral  weeklies."  All  the  lit- 
erature produced  by  the  school  of  Mendelssohn  con- 


1 8  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

sisted  of  belles-lettres  and  of  articles  advocating 
emancipation  and  defending  the  Jews  against  their 
steadily  increasing  enemies.  The  value  of  these  pro- 
ductions was  inconsiderable,  and  even  in  the  combat 
itself  they  cut  no  figure.  Only  the  preachers  who 
with  their  modern  education  and  their  oratorical 
ability  entered  the  lists  as  the  champions  of  Judaism, 
only  they  succeeded  in  awakening  religious  senti- 
ment in  the  educated  classes,  who  had  felt  disgraced 
by  their  religion  and  their  co-religionists. 

From  self-respect  to  self-liberation  was  an  easy 
step,  and  it  was  made  easier  by  the  events  of  the  day. 
Aspiring  minds  conceived  the  idea  of  achieving  the 
culture  of  the  Jew  through  what  was  peculiarly  his 
own.  On  November  17,  1819,  three  young  enthu- 
siasts in  Berlin  formed  the  "  Society  for  the  Culture 
and  the  Science  of  the  Jews."  The  purpose  of  the 
society  was  nothing  less  than  to  "  connect  the  Jews 
with  the  age  and  the  countries  in  which  they  live,  by 
means  of  a  course  of  education  which  shall  proceed 
from  within  outward."  The  founders  were  three 
young  men,  Edward  Cans,  a  jurist,  Moses  Moser,  a 
merchant  with  philosophic  culture,  and  Leopold 
Zunz,  a  Jewish  scholar.  They  were  joined  by  many 
men  of  education  throughout  Germany.  The  first 
achievement  of  the  young  society  was  the  "  Journal 
for  the  Science  of  Judaism"  (1822),  under  the  su- 
pervision of  Zunz.  In  the  very  first  issue  there  ap- 
peared an  essay  clearly  defining  the  concept  "  Science 
of  Judaism."  The  object  of  this  science  was  stated 
to  be  "  the  presentation  of  Judaism  first  from  the 
historical  point  of  view,  its  gradual  development  and 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  1C) 

growth,  and  then  from  the  philosophic  point  of  view, 
its  essential  meaning  and  thought;  but  before  all  a 
knowledge  of  Jewish  literature  must  be  arrived  at 
through  philological  channels." 

Here  was  a  something  new  and  great,  a  something 
hitherto  unknown,  this  "  science  of  Judaism."  The 
extravagant  notions  of  culture  harbored  by  "  Young 
Palestine,"  were,  of  course,  only  castles  in  the  air. 
The  society  and  the  journal  perished  after  a  short 
existence,  but  germs  had  been  scattered  which  were 
destined  to  develop.  Contrary  to  rule  and  custom 
the  captain  had  been  the  first  to  desert  the  sinking 
ship  and  seek  safety  in  port.  For  a  time  the  situa- 
tion seemed  gloomier  than  ever  before.  In  those 
days  one  of  the  three  founders  wrote  memorable 
words  to  a  despairing  friend :  "  The  only  imperish- 
able possession  that  emerges  from  this  deluge  is  the 
science  of  Judaism,  for  this  science  lives  though  no 
finger  has  stirred  in  its  service  for  centuries.  I  con- 
fess that,  barring  submission  to  the  judgment  of  God, 
the  cultivation  of  this  science  is  my  consolation  and 
my  refuge.  Upon  myself  the  storms  and  experi- 
ences I  have  undergone  shall  not  exercise  an  influ- 
ence likely  to  drive  me  into  dissension  with  myself. 
I  did  what  I  considered  it  my  duty  to  do.  Seeing 
that  I  was  preaching  in  the  wilderness,  I  ceased  to 
preach,  but  not  to  become  faithless  to  what  I  pro- 
claimed  Nothing  is  left  for  the  members  to 

do  but  continue,  faithful  to  their  ideals,  to  influence 
those  who  come  in  contact  with  them,  and  commit 
the  rest  to  God." 

It  was   Leopold   Zunz    (1794-1886)    who   wrote 


2O  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

these  remarkable  words.  Not  only  was  he  the 
founder  of  the  science  of  Judaism,  he  remained  its 
chief  exponent  even  after  the  task  marked  out  by 
him  had  enlisted  friends  and  capable  promoters. 
"A  man  of  speech  and  of  action,  he  created  and 
wrought,  while  others  dreamed  and  lost  courage." 
In  those  gloomy  days  of  the  deluge,  Zunz  withdrew 
to  his  quiet,  world-removed  ark,  and  created  a  work, 
"  The  Devotional  Homilies  of  the  Jews "  (Die 
gottesdienstlichen  Vortr'dge  der  Juden),  that  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  science  of  Judaism.  His  aim 
was  to  show  that  the  living  word  of  instruction  had 
at  all  times  been  heard  in  Israel.  His  clear,  com- 
prehensive, systematizing  mind  introduced  light  and 
order  into  the  jungle  of  the  Haggada.  His  work  is 
a  veritable  classic.  Down  to  our  own  day  its  author- 
ity continues  undisputed.  In  three  later  works  he 
sought  to  trace  the  fortunes  of  Israel's  devotional 
literature,  from  its  birth  thousands  of  years  ago, 
through  the  mazes  of  Jewish  liturgical  poetry.  Zunz 
was  the  first  to  survey  the  whole  field  of  Jewish  lit- 
erature, and  lay  down  the  lines  of  demarcation  indi- 
cating its  development.  He  assembled  its  isolated, 
disjointed  investigations  and  works,  constituting 
them  a  science  that  compelled  the  respect  of  scholars 
in  kindred  departments.  He  is  the  creator  of  a 
scientific  style  in  Jewish  literature.  Thus  a  move- 
ment radiated  from  him  which  brought  about,  in 
Jews  and  in  non-Jews,  a  total  change  of  front  with 
regard  to  Judaism.  He  taught  his  co-religionists 
self-knowledge  and  led  them  to  self-respect. 

Our  admiration  for  his  achievement  suffers  no 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  21 

diminution  though  it  be  admitted  that  almost  at  the 
same  time  and  independently  of  Zunz  others  were 
doing-  the  same  pioneer  work.  Zunz  was  joined  in 
his  endeavors  by  one  born  in  a  country  in  which  the 
study  of  the  Talmud  had  taken  refuge  from  the 
storms  of  the  modern  era.  This  was  Solomon  Ju- 
dah  Rapoport  (1790-1867),  of  Lemberg.  He  be- 
longed to  a  circle  of  Galician  humanists  whose  spir- 
itual leader  was  Nachman  Krochmal  (1785-1840), 
one  of  the  most  profound  thinkers  among  Jews. 
Rapoport  was  the  first  to  show  how  a  rich  store  of 
Talmudic  scholarship  can  be  applied  to  the  tasks  and 
purposes  of  Jewish  science.  The  great  influence 
which  he  exercised  upon  the  development  of  Jewish 
science  until  the  end  of  his  life  lay  in  the  felicitous 
union  in  his  mind  of  Talmudic  with  secular  knowl- 
edge, of  the  power  of  acute  combinations  with  the 
power  of  historical  criticism. 

By  a  fortunate  coincidence  the  time  in  which  the 
interest  of  the  general  public  in  Judaism  seemed  to 
have  died  out  produced  even  a  third  investigator, 
who  aided  Zunz  and  Rapoport  in  their  task  of  level- 
ling new  paths.  He  hailed  from  Italy,  the  land  in 
which  the  traditions  of  a  classic  past  continued  to  be 
silently  operative,  and  from  a  family  to  which  Jew- 
ish literature  had  been  indebted,  long  and  frequently, 
for  poets  and  thinkers.  Samuel  David  Luzzatto 
(1800-1865),  °f  Trieste,  devoted  himself  primarily 
to  Bible  exegesis  and  the  history  of  literature.  His 
spirit  was  related  to  the  free  spirit  of  the  Italian 
scholars  of  the  Renascence.  At  once  liberal  and 
religious,  he  possessed,  besides,  a  rare  faculty  of 


22  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

keen-witted  discernment.  In  every  department  of 
Jewish  science  his  activities  had  a  stimulating  effect : 
in  Bible  exegesis,  in  Jewish  history,  in  the  history  of 
Jewish  literature,  and  in  Hebrew  grammar.  In  the 
last  he  did  pioneer  work  in  putting  it  on  a  scientific 
basis. 

A  trio  of  investigators  like  Zunz,  Rapoport,  and 
Luzzatto,  were  well  able  to  rekindle  the  dying  embers 
of  love  for  Judaism  in  the  hearts  of  its  adherents, 
and  clear  the  encumbered  paths  for  disciples  and 
successors.  From  the  appearance  of  these  scholars 
in  the  arena  dates  a  renascence  of  the  science  of  Ju- 
daism, which  continues  to  this  day  to  produce  results 
and  present  new  aims.  Scores  of  zealous  and  com- 
petent workers  have  contributed  their  solutions  of 
the  problems  it  propounds,  and  their  achievements 
go  to  swell  the  stream  of  general  culture.  It  is  as 
the  German  poet  says :  "  Far  off  in  the  East  the 
dawn  is  breaking,  the  olden  times  are  growing 
young !  "  The  rise  of  the  science  of  Judaism  marked 
the  end  of  the  time  in  which  the  young  found  sal- 
vation only  in  one-sided  negation,  or  sought  salva- 
tion only  beyond  the  limits  of  their  religious  com- 
munity, in  regions  in  which  the  Jew  was  ashamed 
to  be  a  Jew,  was  ashamed  to  call  himself  a  Jew. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  23 


II 

The  course  taken  by  self-knowledge  and  self-re- 
spect in  Judaism  was  by  no  means  short  or  rapid, 
though  such  may  have  been  the  impression  obtained 
from  what  I  said  in  the  previous  section.  It  was  a 
long  time  before  the  realization  of  a  change  in  life 
and  morals  penetrated  the  consciousness  of  the  Jews, 
or  before  they  entered  freely  and  without  restriction 
into  the  movements  contemporaneous  with  them. 
The  history  of  this  development  is  properly  classed 
as  part  of  general  history  or  of  the  history  of  those 
conflicts  between  progress  and  reaction,  between 
revolution  and  counter-revolution,  which  took  place 
from  1815  on  in  every  civilized  country,  in  all  fields 
of  public  and  political  life.  At  the  same  time,  the 
history  of  this  current  of  events  naturally  forms  part 
of  Jewish  history  as  well. 

The  subject  has  two  aspects,  one  of  which  is  the 
self-emancipation  of  the  Jews,  the  other  is  their 
emancipation  as  dwellers  among  other  nations.  Of 
our  self-emancipation  we  may  assert  with  just  pride 
that  it  was  accomplished  long  before  the  other 
emancipation  was  even  thought  of ;  while  the  politi- 
cal and  legal  enfranchisement  of  the  Jew  had  a  his- 
tory of  quite  other  character. 

An  historian  of  keen  insight  justly  called  it  that 
emancipation  by  which  the  states  and  peoples  freed 


24  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

themselves  from  the  errors  and  prejudices  of  their 
past,  in  the  same  way  as  the  Jews  had  already  eman- 
cipated themselves  in  all  fields  of  thought.  How 
they  came  to  have  a  wider,  freer  life  among  the  peo- 
ples of  the  civilized  world  is  only  an  incident  in  the 
general  progress  of  humane  feelings  and  in  the  de- 
velopment of  a  sense  of  justice  among  the  nations 
of  the  present  day. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  follow  the  very  slow 
evolution  of  this  sense  of  justice.  It  is  difficult  to 
realize  how  ideas  so  fundamental  could  take  root 
and  sprout  so  slowly  in  the  countries  of  highest  cul- 
ture, though  in  some  lands,  notably  America,  they 
conquered  public  opinion  at  one  blow.  Various 
causes  contributed  to  the  fact — the  narrow-minded- 
ness of  the  learned,  factiousness,  the  inflexibility  of 
public  opinion,  blind  adherence  to  principles,  politi- 
cal orthodoxy,  and  much  else.  Science — including, 
it  must  be  stated,  theology  as  well  as  history — poli- 
tics, and  the  press,  were  equally  powerful  factors  in 
retarding  the  progress  of  liberalism.  Such  is  the 
only  explanation  that  throws  light  upon  the  deter- 
mined stand  taken  against  the  emancipation  of  the 
Jews  in  the  period  between  1815  and  1840  by  the 
most  learned  historians  and  the  most  open-minded 
politicians.  They  tried  to  demonstrate  by  historic 
precedent  that  emancipation  was  not  necessary  for 
the  Jews,  and  that  their  enfranchisement  would  be 
most  dangerous  and  fraught  with  ruin  to  the  Chris- 
tians. The  leader  of  the  South  German  liberals, 
Karl  von  Rotteck,  came  out  quite  openly  against  the 
emancipation  of  the  Jews  so  late  as  1831-1832,  dur- 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  2$ 

ing  the  session  of  the  Chamber  of  Baden.  Hot  op- 
ponents were  found  also  in  the  world  of  belles-let- 
tres, and  counted  among  their  number  men  like 
Gustav  Pfitzer  and  Wolfgang  Menzel.  Even  lib- 
erals, such  as  the  author  Karl  Gutzkow,  entertained 
many  doubts  concerning  the  Jews,  from  which  they 
could  not  free  themselves.  And  if  the  intelligent 
and  the  learned  were  so  narrow  and  one-sided  in  re- 
gard to  this  question,  what  was  to  be  expected  of  the 
people  at  large?  With  such  an  example  furnished 
by  men  such  as  these,  what  must  public  opinion  have 
been?  If  the  salt  of  the  earth  have  lost  its  savor, 
with  what  were  things  to  be  salted?  Lessing's 
ideas  found  many  friends,  it  is  true,  but  few  be- 
lievers. People  were  not  ashamed  to  justify  their 
opposition  to  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews  from  a 
juridical  and  rational  standpoint.  The  birthright  to 
religious  freedom,  which  was  the  first  aspect  of  the 
movement  to  come  into  consideration,  was  brought 
to  the  fore  by  only  a  few ;  and  again  and  again  it  be- 
came necessary  to  remind  the  Jews  themselves  of 
the  rights  due  them  and  the  justice  of  their  demands. 
To  prepare  the  way  for  the  emancipation  of  the 
Jews  was  most  difficult  in  the  very  states  which  first 
granted  full  religious  liberty,  and  adopted  an  atti- 
tude of  complete  tolerance  in  religious  matters.  A 
notable  example  is  Prussia.  As  is  known,  Frederick 
the  Great  on  his  assumption  of  the  government  ad- 
dressed a  rescript  to  the  Minister  of  State  Von 
Brandt.  It  was  a  model  document — in  all  but  spell- 
ing— proclaiming  that  all  religions  were  to  be  toler- 
ated, and  the  state  should  see  to  the  one  thing  only, 


26  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

that  no  one  work  harm  to  his  neighbor ;  "  for  here 
each  must  be  happy  after  his  own  fashion."  And 
so  the  Prussian  common  law  guaranteed  every  in- 
habitant of  the  state  complete  freedom  in  matters  of 
conscience  and  religion.  Nevertheless,  up  to  1847 
the  provisions  of  the  law  left  much  to  be  desired  in 
regard  to  the  emancipation  of  the  Jews. 

Even  during  the  debates  that  were  carried  on  in 
St.  Paul's  Church  in  Frankfort  concerning  the  fun- 
damental rights  of  the  German  people,  voices  were 
raised  against  the  enfranchisement  of  the  Jews.  A 
well-known  liberal  deputy  brought  up  the  question 
as  to  what  vote  the  Jew  would  cast,  if  the  unity  of 
the  German  states  should  come  up  for  consideration. 
A  Jewish  deputy,  indignant,  gave  the  eloquent  an- 
swer :  "  He  will  cast  a  vote  determined  by  the  deep- 
est conviction,  by  the  knowledge,  won  at  hard  cost, 
of  all  the  vulgarities,  all  the  petty  misdeeds,  which 
are  fostered  by  the  political  disruption  of  Germany, 
by  the  pitiful,  narrow-minded,  mean-spirited  acts 
of  a  contracted  little  state.  No  one  in  Germany  has 
experienced  this  with  such  force,  so  vividly,  as  we 
have;  no  one  has  such  daily  insight  into  all  these 
matters  as  we  have.  If  you  offer  me,  on  the  one 
hand,  emancipation  for  the  Jews, — and  my  dearest 
wishes  are  directed  toward  their  emancipation, — on 
the  other  hand,  the  realization  of  a  beautiful  dream, 
the  political  unity  of  Germany,  and,  involved  therein, 
its  political  freedom — given  this  choice,  I  would  take 
the  second  offer  without  hesitation ;  for  I  am  of  the 
firm  conviction  that  the  second  carries  the  first  offer 
in  its  train. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  2? 

• 

"  Is  the  German  as  an  individual,  in  his  private 
life,  less  benevolent,  less  unselfish,  less  proud  of  his 
country  than  the  Frenchman?  No  German,  how- 
ever unprejudiced,  would  be  willing  to  admit  that 
this  is  true.  Then,  why  is  it  that  when  the  question 
of  emancipation  as  well  as  other  questions  concern- 
ing monopoly  and  equality  before  the  law  are  dis- 
cussed here  in  Germany,  why  is  it  that  low  consid- 
erations arise,  of  self-seeking,  of  malevolence,  of  the 
mean-spirited  desire  to  clog  the  powers  of  others? 
No  trace  of  such  a  spirit  manifests  itself  in  France, 
where  the  problem  of  emancipation  was  solved  with 
the  rapidity  of  thought,  with  the  resoluteness  of  con- 
viction. And  in  England,  too,  such  a  spirit  is  for- 
eign to  all  discussions.  One  must  not  draw  the  in- 
ference that  in  these  countries  pettiness  is  less  char- 
acteristic of  the  individual  than  in  Germany.  The 
nature  of  man  does  not  vary  to  such  an  extent.  But 
in  France  and  England,  public  and  political  life,  the 
legislative  element,  is  too  dignified,  too  exalted,  has 
too  high  a  standpoint,  not  to  banish  the  merely  per- 
sonal, petty,  and  low  from  its  consideration,  or,  at 
least,  impose  silence  upon  the  importunities  of  the 
mean-spirited.  The  very  passions  given  play,  fos- 
tered, in  fact,  by  political  life  of  such  kind  are  of  a 
nobler  and  more  magnanimous  character.  They 
spring  from  power  conscious  of  itself  and  seeking  to 
defend  itself,  while  the  passions  excited  in  small 
states  arise  from  a  feeling  of  impotence.  Here  they 
are  more  unyielding,  even  if  not  more  dangerous, 
than  where  the  stage  is  broader ;  for  they  never  ex- 
haust themselves,  but  grow  in  size  as  public  power 


28  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

• 

wanes.  Vulgarity  is  the  mother  earth  from  which 
these  passions  trodden  to  the  ground  draw  fresh  and 
unconquerable  strength.  Contrast  with  this  the 
wealth  of  intelligence  from  which  choice  can  be  made 
in  a  great  nation  constituting  a  living  political  entity, 
when  the  time  comes  to  elect  representatives  and 
make  laws;  contrast  with  it  the  elevated  spirit,  the 
fine  culture,  presented  by  a  people  rich  in  endow- 
ments of  mind  and  soul,  and  standing  on  the  highest 
rung  of  political  life.  How  different  the  question 
of  justice  and  freedom  in  this  state  of  affairs  from 
the  aspect  it  wears  in  the  narrow  confines  of  a  petty 
state,  where  prosperous  mediocrity  and  narrow- 
minded  conceit  often  wield  the  sceptre.  Let  us 
fight  out  the  issue  of  emancipation  in  an  assembly 
which  represents  thirty  million  Germans,  and  I'll 
pledge  my  life  that  emancipation  will  triumph." 

The  man  who  spoke  in  this  wise  was  the  leader 
of  the  German  Jews  in  their  struggle  for  freedom. 
Next  to  the  Jewish  scholars,  who  gave  their  co- 
religionists insight  into  the  essence  and  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Judaism,  as  well  as  into  its  historical  de- 
velopment, he  was  the  most  powerful  agent  in  arous- 
ing the  sentiment  of  self-respect  among  the  German 
Jews.  He  was  the  bravest  champion  of  their  civic 
rights.  Gabriel  Riesser  (1806-1860),  who  first  re- 
stored the  name  of  Jew  to  honor,  was  at  once  a  Ger- 
man and  a  Jew,  at  once  an  enthusiastic  patriot  of 
the  fatherland  and  an  energetic  defender  of  his 
race.  He  refused  to  sacrifice  one  jot  or  tittle  of  his 
religion  for  the  sake  of  political  liberty,  nevertheless 
he  demanded  unrestricted  freedom  for  all  professing 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  29 

the  Jewish  religion.  His  word  and  example  elec- 
trified the  youth  in  Jewry.  His  contemporaries 
came  to  look  upon  equality  before  the  law,  not  as  a 
gift  to  be  obtained  by  begging,  but  as  a  right  to  be 
demanded.  Unlike  David  Friedlander  and  his  com- 
panions, however,  they  did  not  offer  by  way  of  re- 
quital to  perform  acts  that  would  involve  harm  to 
their  Judaism.  This,  it  must  be  admitted,  was  a 
long  step  forward,  and  we  are  indebted  for  it  chiefly 
to  Gabriel  Riesser,  who  all  his  life,  by  the  spoken 
and  the  written  word,  took  the  part  of  the  Jews,  and 
defended  their  rights  against  every  attack.  Next  to 
the  classic  works  of  Ludwig  Borne,  Riesser's  writ- 
ings rank  as  the  most  important  contributions  to  the 
large  literature  of  the  emancipation  question.  They 
are  distinguished  for  enthusiasm  in  the  cause  of  the 
Jews,  for  patriotic  sentiment,  and,  by  no  means  least, 
for  force  and  absolute  truthfulness. 

The  idea  of  emancipation,  it  is  true,  did  not  origi- 
nate in  Germany,  but  in  England.  A  century  and  a 
half  before,  John  Toland,  the  spokesman  of  English 
deism,  had  proclaimed  the  right  of  the  Jews  to 
equality  before  the  law.  Other  freethinkers  fol- 
lowed him  in  England  and  France — in  France  after 
the  new  spiritual  movement  had  been  transplanted 
thither.  In  Germany  it  was  poets  like  Lessing  and 
Herder,  philosophers  like  Wolff,  Thomasius,  and 
Baumgarten,  who  took  up  the  cudgels  against  the 
old  superstitions  in  the  name  of  pure  reason.  All  of 
them,  directly  or  indirectly,  furthered  the  growth  of 
the  new  ideas,  and  cleared  the  ground  for  the 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  man. 


30  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

Certain  external  events  contributed  to  give  these 
ideas  form  and  life.  In  1781  Emperor  Joseph  II 
issued  his  famous  edict  for  Austria;  the  independ- 
ence won  by  the  United  States  in  1783  guaranteed 
religious  freedom  to  all  comers ;  in  1791  the  complete 
equality  of  the  Jews  with  the  other  citizens  was  de- 
clared in  France;  and  in  1796,  together  with  the 
entry  of  the  victorious  French  troops,  emancipation 
was  introduced  into  Holland.  The  Italian  states 
and  England  soon  followed.  In  Russia  and  Poland 
emancipation  was  not  yet  to  be  dreamed  of.  Thus, 
only  Germany  remained;  and  here,  under  unfavor- 
able external  conditions,  self-emancipation  among 
the  Jews  preceded  their  political  emancipation  by 
many  years.  Although  they  fought  bravely  in  the 
War  of  Liberation,  the  famous  Edict  of  Hardenberg 
(1812),  which  granted  citizenship  to  all  Jews  of 
Prussia,  was  never  put  into  effect.  From  1815  to 
1850  they  had  to  undergo  many  severe  conflicts,  not 
only  with  the  German  chauvinists,  but  with  the  reac- 
tionaries as  well. 

In  all  these  struggles  Gabriel  Riesser  was  the 
man  to  fire  his  co-religionists  with  courage,  and  to 
convince  the  just-minded  German  that  emancipation 
was  a  moral  duty.  The  details  of  the  struggle  con- 
stitute a  melancholy  chapter  in  modern  history. 
While  in  the  early  "  thirties "  the  city  of  London 
elected  Lionel  Rothschild  as  its  representative  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  the  Jews  in  various  German 
states  were  still  passing  through  severe  conflicts  in 
order  to  gain  the  most  elementary  rights. 

The  best  characterization  of  the  position  of  the 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  3! 

Jews  in  West  European  countries  is  afforded  by  the 
Damascus  affair  (1840),  which  unfortunately  came 
to  be  of  great  significance  in  the  century.  In  the 
winter  of  1840  the  superior  of  a  Capuchin  monas- 
tery and  his  servant  disappeared  from  Damascus. 
The  crime  was  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Jews,  not 
through  the  agency  of  natives,  but  through  the 
French  Consul  at  Damascus.  As  the  murder  took 
place  before  the  Passover,  the  rumor  spread  without 
opposition.  Prominent  Jews  were  imprisoned  and 
tortured;  the  Jewish  quarter  was  plundered.  As  a 
result  of  the  confessions  wrung  from  victims  on  the 
rack,  the  unfortunate  Jews  were  condemned  to  death 
on  the  charge  of  ritual  murder. 

One  can  easily  conceive  that  this  event  produced  a 
sensation  in  Europe.  England  and  Austria  came 
out  against  France,  whose  leading  statesman,  Thiers, 
was  ogling  the  Jesuits  in  order  to  strengthen  his 
country  in  the  Orient.  But  the  spirit  of  self-con- 
sciousness and  self-respect  had  been  awakened  in 
the  European  Jews.  They  came  to  the  defense  with 
no  faltering  step.  At  their  head  were  Adolphe  Cre- 
mieux  (1796-1880)  and  Moses  Montefiore  (1784- 
1885),  for  whom  the  Jews  will  cherish  abiding  grati- 
tude. Cremieux  and  Montefiore  undertook  the 
journey  to  Egypt,  and  succeeded  in  convincing 
Mehmet  AH  of  the  innocence  of  the  Jews,  and  in 
prevailing  upon  him  to  set  them  free.  The  passage 
of  these  two  men  through  Europe  was  nothing  short 
of  a  triumphal  procession. 

The  Damascus  event  itself  fell  into  oblivion,  but, 
as  the  end  of  the  century  has  shown,  and  to  the  hor- 


32  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

ror  of  all  friends  of  culture  and  progress,  the  super- 
stition came  to  life  again  in  various  European  coun- 
tries, in  the  very  centre  of  European  culture,  and 
brought  confusion  and  evil  upon  wide  circles  of  so- 
ciety. One  good,  however,  has  been  the  result.  The 
Jews  became  fully  convinced  of  the  need  for  self- 
defense,  and  this  conviction  led,  twenty  years  later, 
to  the  foundation  of  the  Alliance  Israelite  Univer- 
selle,  which  has  for  its  object  the  assistance  of  Jews 
wherever  they  suffer  because  they  are  Jews.  In 
connection  with  the  Alliance  Israelite  Univcrsellc, 
similar  societies  were  later  formed  in  London,  New 
York,  and  Vienna.  These  institutions  had  the  effect 
of  strengthening  the  feeling  of  solidarity  among 
modern  Jews,  which  is  in  itself  a  noble  feeling  of 
brotherly  community  in  joy  and  sorrow,  and  is  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  sentiment  imputed  to  the 
Jews  by  their  opponents,  that  the  Jews  hold  them- 
selves liable  for  all  errors  and  mistakes  committed 
by  their  co-religionists. 

The  storms  of  the  year  1848  brought  help  to  the 
German  patriots  struggling  for  liberty,  and  thus  to 
the  Jews  as  well.  In  France,  Germany,  Austria, 
and  Italy  the  people  rose  in  a  body  to  demand  their 
rights,  and  in  all  these  struggles  Jews  took  sides 
with  the  fighters  for  liberty.  Soon  after,  however,  a 
political  reaction  set  in  which  nullified  to  a  great 
extent  the  successes  of  the  liberals  in  the  year  1848. 
It  was  only  after  much  parleying  and  wavering  that 
the  Prussian  constitution  adopted  in  1850  finally  de- 
clared civic  rights  to  be  independent  of  creed  in 
Prussia.  Some  of  the  German  states  had  already 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  33 

accepted  this  principle,  others  shortly  followed  the 
lead  of  Prussia.  Nevertheless,  not  until  the  adop- 
tion of  the  German  constitution  of  1871  was  com- 
plete equality  granted  to  the  Jews  throughout  Ger- 
many. Austria  had  preceded  Germany  by  twelve 
years  in  taking  this  step. 

Complete  emancipation  was  much  more  easily  ob- 
tained in  America.  The  liberation  of  the  Colonies 
from  the  yoke  of  England  brought  freedom  to  the 
Jews.  Even  before  the  seventeenth  century  Jews 
had  gone  with  the  English  and  Portuguese  discover- 
ers to  North  and  South  America,  stimulated,  in  part, 
by  the  fact  that  America  was  then  reputed  to  be  the 
home  of  the  Ten  Tribes.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Jews  took  part  in  the  Revolution  of  the  Colonies, 
and  in  the  nineteenth  century  their  number  in  the 
United  States  grew  from  some  twelve  thousand  to 
over  a  million.  America  is  the  great  land  of  free- 
dom, in  which  "  an  ideal  is  in  itself  powerful  enough 
to  triumph  over  arrogance  and  wrong-doing,  with- 
out the  exercise  of  arrogance  and  wrong-doing.'' 

No  less  powerful  than  the  struggle  for  freedom 
was  a  second  movement,  which  took  its  course 
through  the  middle  of  the  century  alongside  the 
purely  scientific  movement  and  the  fight  for  civic 
equality.  This  was  the  conflict  carried  on  between 
the  advocates  of  reform  and  of  traditional  Judaism, 
the  smoldering  fires  of  which  leapt  into  flames  in 
the  "  forties."  The  opposition  between  the  two 
parties  may  rightly  be  taken  as  a  sign  of  renewed 
religious  self-consciousness. 


34  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

Now  the  representatives  of  traditional  Judaism 
also  stepped  forth  from  their  retirement,  and  took 
their  place  on  the  field  of  battle,  like  their  op- 
ponents clad  in  the  armor  of  modern  culture.  They 
arrogated  to  themselves  the  distinction  of  absolute 
correctness  in  matters  of  religious  belief.  They  have 
since  borne  the  name  of  "Orthodox"  (really  neo- 
Orthodox)  in  opposition  to  the  Reform  party.  The 
most  eminent  representatives  of  these  two  tendencies 
were  Abraham  Geiger  (1810-1874)  and  Samson 
Raphael  Hirsch  (1808-1888).  The  one  embodied 
the  principles  of  progress,  the  other,  those  of  ortho- 
doxy. Both  were  saturated  with  modern  culture; 
both  were  penetrated  by  profound  love  for  Judaism ; 
both  wanted  to  steer  Judaism  through  the  rough 
waters  of  the  time,  and  give  it  a  new  and  enduring 
form;  both  proceeded  in  their  activity  with  intelli- 
gence, and  learning,  and  depth  of  sentiment — yet 
the  two  arrived  at  almost  antipodal  goals. 

Geiger's  conception  of  Judaism  was  not  of  blind 
subjection  to  a  precept,  but  of  "  a  free  development 
of  inward  moral  strength,"  which  rather  opposes 
adherence  to  established  forms.  Hirsch  believed  the 
duty  of  the  Jew  to  reside  in  unqualified  submission 
to  the  law,  in  complete  surrender  of  his  life  to 
religion.  Yet  Hirsch  himself  did  not  desire  blind 
obedience,  but  thorough  comprehension  of  the  true 
content  of  the  law,  a  divine  service  always  practiced 
with  complete  consciousness  of  the  meaning  of  the 
act,  through  which  the  Jew  would  arrive  at  moral 
perfection.  Hirsch,  too,  wanted  reform,  but  not  a 
reform  of  Judaism  ;  he  wanted  a  reform  of  the  Jews 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  35 

themselves;  he  wanted  a  reformed  education  which 
would  bring  them  back  to  the  Torah.  Geiger,  on 
the  other  hand,  recognized  the  perfect  right  of  each 
generation,  including  the  present,  to  carry  on  reli- 
gious construction  in  its  own  spirit,  to  discard  rigid 
forms,  and  continue  to  develop  the  idea  of  Judaism. 
No  two  differences  of  opinion  could  be  more  oppo- 
site in  character;  and  yet  Geiger  and  Hirsch  be- 
longed to  the  same  racial  and  religious  community ; 
their  starting-point  was  the  same,  and  at  bottom  they 
sought  the  same  ends. 

If  proof  were  necessary,  the  existence  of  these 
two  bold  minds  would  furnish  evidence,  that  Juda- 
ism permits  its  followers  full  and  unlimited  freedom 
of  thought,  and  that  it  is  not  a  religion  of  dogmas, 
but  of  historic  perception  and  moral  sentiment.  In 
the  Talmudic  academy  of  old  the  Heavenly  Voice 
sought  to  reconcile  absolutely  opposed  views  by  pro- 
claiming :  "  These  as  well  as  those  are  the  words  of 
the  living  God."  These  words  of  comfort  might  be 
applied  to  the  different  principles  which  split  Juda- 
ism into  two  parties  in  the  last  century.  However 
dark  the  prospects  at  that  time  may  have  seemed, 
however  violent  may  have  been  the  opposition  be- 
tween the  two  antagonists,  however  threatening  the 
danger  to  the  unity  of  Judaism, — for  the  cry  for 
division  repeatedly  echoed  from  both  camps, — those 
whose  vision  penetrated  deeper  beneath  the  surface 
perceived  scarcely  any  danger  from  these  conflicts 
and  controversies.  They  saw  in  them  only  signs  of 
a  newly-awakened  religious  life,  of  inner  soundness, 
of  renewed  mental  activity  after  a  dreary  period  of 


36  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

stagnation,  when  desertion  was  general,  a  spirit  of 
one-sided  negation  prevailed,  and  Jews  blindly  imi- 
tated the  stranger.  The  mere  existence  of  two  such 
men  as  Geiger  and  Hirsch  had  an  inspiriting,  leav- 
ening effect.  The  older  generation  roused  them- 
selves out  of  their  torpor,  and  realized  that  unquali- 
fied acceptance  of  modern  culture  not  only  does  not 
endanger  Judaism,  but  rather  furthers  its  develop- 
ment; while  the  young  learned  to  know  Judaism 
from  a  point  of  view  new  to  them,  and  began  to 
respect  and  love  their  religion.  And  this  was  true 
progress,  such  as  the  timid  changes  advocated  by 
the  preachers  in  the  pulpits  of  Reform  Temples 
would  never  have  produced. 

Moreover,  Abraham  Geiger  was  the  first  to  con- 
ceive a  Jewish  theology.  His  Zeitschrift  fiir  wis- 
senschaftliche  Theologie  (1835)  gathered  all  the  pro- 
gressive elements  in  Jewry  about  its  banner,  the 
motto  of  which  was  historic  criticism.  The  same  was 
done  for  the  orthodox  by  Samson  Raphael  Hirsch. 
The  note  struck  by  him  in  his  Neunzehn  Brief e  ilber 
Judenthum  (1839)  was  loudly  echoed  from  the 
camp  of  the  pious.  In  order  to  create  a  new  au- 
thority for  the  reform  of  Judaism,  Geiger  endeav- 
ored to  found  a  Jewish  theological  faculty  and 
convoke  conferences  of  rabbis.  The  faculty  was 
not  established  until  later,  and  the  rabbinical  con- 
ventions took  place  at  Brunswick,  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main,  and  Breslau,  in  the  years  1844,  1845,  an(l 
1846.  Though  rabbis  and  congregations  were  stim- 
ulated to  endeavor,  the  institution  did  not  last,  and 
it  failed  to  provide  a  unifying  centre  for  the  reform 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  37 

activities  of  the  rabbinate.  The  scientific  founda- 
tions had  not  yet  been  built  sufficiently  sure  and 
strong  for  Jewish  theology  to  erect  upon  them  a  new 
structure  of  reform,  and  the  congregations  began 
only  later  to  enter  into  the  religious  reform  move- 
ment. 

The  movement  was  essentially  strengthened  by 
the  Jewish  press,  which  developed  to  a  remarkable 
degree  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Ludwig  Philipp- 
son  (1811-1889),  who  in  his  Allgemeine  Zeitung 
des  Judenthums  provided  a  vehicle  for  the  expres- 
sion of  all  Jewish  activities,  may  be  considered  the 
father  of  Jewish  journalism.  Other  men  soon  fol- 
lowed his  example,  and  founded  papers  in  London, 
Paris,  New  York,  and  elsewhere,  all  having  the 
same  end  in  view. 

When  the  congregations  began  to  participate  in 
the  reform  movement,  a  certain  opposition  against 
even  the  modern  rabbinate  became  apparent  here 
and  there.  For  those  who  were  passing  through  a 
period  of  stress  and  storm  the  reforms  of  the  rabbis 
were  proceeding  too  slowly.  They  wanted  a  definite 
whole,  even  at  the  price  of  a  schism  in  Judaism.  In 
this  spirit  the  Frankfort  Verein  der  Reformfreunde 
was  founded  in  the  autumn  of  1842.  It  adopted  the 
following  three  principles:  (i)  We  recognize  in  the 
Mosaic  religion  the  potentiality  of  unlimited  devel- 
opment. (2)  The  collection  of  controversies,  trea- 
tises, and  precepts  usually  called  the  Talmud  has 
for  us  no  dogmatic  authority.  (3)  We  neither  await 
nor  desire  a  Messiah  who  will  lead  the  Israelites 
back  to  Palestine.  We  recognize  no  fatherland  ex- 


38  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

cept  the  one  to  which  we  belong  by  birth,  or  stand 
in  the  relation  of  citizens. 

Naturally,  the  proclamation  of  these  ultra-radical 
reform  doctrines  sent  a  thrill  of  excitement  through 
the  Jewry  of  that  time.  But  it  is  clear  that  the  state- 
ments, being  entirely  negative  in  character,  contain 
nothing  to  connect  the  religious  consciousness  of  the 
present  with  the  Judaism  of  all  ages.  After  a  short 
period  of  life  the  Verein  der  Reformfreunde  came  to 
an  end  through  lack  of  support. 

The  endeavors  of  the  Berlin  Reformgemeinde 
(1845),  whose  spiritual  head  was  Samuel  Holdheim 
(1806-1860),  enjoyed  a  longer  lease  of  life;  but 
this  association  remained  isolated,  at  least  in  Europe. 
However,  a  fertile  field  for  similar  endeavors  offered 
itself  in  America. 

It  seems  necessary,  therefore,  to  consider  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Reformgemeinde  more  closely.  As  the 
leaders  of  the  movement  themselves  admitted,  its 
principles  were  not  in  a  line  of  logical  development 
with  the  school  of  Mendelssohn  or  with  the  purely 
negative  aims  of  the  Reformfreunde  in  Frankfort. 
The  first  appeal  of  the  Gemeinde  to  the  Jews  of 
Germany  may  be  taken  as  the  foundation  of  a  new 
structure.  The  Berlin  Reformgemeinde  proclaimed  : 
"  We  want  faith ;  we  want  a  positive  religion ;  we 
want  Judaism.  We  adhere  to  the  spirit  of  the  Bible. 
We  recognize  the  Bible  to  be  evidence  of  the  Divine 
revelation  by  which  the  mind  of  our  fathers  was 
illuminated.  We  cling  to  everything  that  pertains  to 
true  worship  of  God  in  keeping  with  our  religion. 
We  are  convinced  that  the  Divine  teaching  of  Juda- 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  39 

ism  is  the  eternally  true  one,  and  we  believe  in  the 
promise  that  this  knowledge  of  God  will  in  time  to 
come  spread  to  all  mankind.  But  we  want  to  inter- 
pret the  Holy  Scriptures  in  its  Divine  meaning;  we 
can  no  longer  sacrifice  our  Divine  freedom  to  the 
tyranny  of  the  letter ;  we  cannot  truthfully  pray  for 
a  Messianic  kingdom  on  earth  which  will  lead  us, 
as  from  a  strange  country,  out  of  the  father- 
land to  which  we  are  bound  by  all  the  ties  of  love, 
back  to  the  land  of  our  forefathers.  We  can  no 
longer  observe  rules  and  customs  which  have  no 
spiritual  hold  upon  us,  and  we  cannot  regard  as  an 
unalterable  code  one  that  bases  the  essence  and 
teaching  of  Judaism  on  unswerving  adherence  to 
forms  and  precepts  originating  in  times  long  past 
and  under  conditions  that  will  never  reappear.  Pen- 
etrated though  we  are  by  the  holiness  of  our  religion, 
we  cannot  preserve  it  in  the  form  in  which  we  have 
inherited  it,  and  still  less  are  we  able  to  hand  it  on 
in  the  same  form  to  our  posterity.  And  so  the  trum- 
pet notes  of  the  time  thrill  us  as  we  stand  between 
the  graves  of  our  fathers  and  the  cradles  of  our  sons, 
the  last  to  win  a  great  inheritance  in  its  old  form, 
and  the  first  who,  with  undaunted  courage  and  in 
brotherly  accord,  will  by  word  and  deed  lay  the  cor- 
nerstone of  a  new  edifice,  for  ourselves  and  for 
following  generations.  But  we  do  not  want  to  tear 
ourselves  away  from  the  community  to  which  we 
belong.  Rather,  we  will  extend  the  hand  of  love 
and  tolerance  to  all  our  co-religionists,  even  to  those 
who  do  not  share  our  views.  We  do  not  want  a 
rift  in  our  unity.  You,  however,  who  think  as  we 


4O  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

do,  of  you  we  confidently  demand  union.  Let  us  be 
truthful  in  our  relations  with  each  other,  and  show 
forbearance  toward  those  who  are  not  of  our  num- 
ber, remain  steadfast  in  our  conflicts  with  others 
and  loyal  to  ourselves." 

This  was  a  frank,  honorable  declaration,  which 
should  have  struck  an  answering  chord  in  the  oppos- 
ing ranks.  If  reform  failed  to  win  wide  sympathy 
for  this  affirmation  of  its  principles,  the  blame  is  to 
be  put  upon  various  factors  that  cannot  be  dealt 
with  in  detail  in  the  present  work. 

Between  the  two  extreme  tendencies,  between  or- 
thodoxy and  reform,  a  mean  had  necessarily  to  be 
established.  The  further  the  science  of  Judaism 
and  the  idea  of  a  Jewish  theology  were  developed, 
the  more  natural  it  was  that  the  desire  for  a  middle 
course  should  have  manifested  itself  among  the  Jews. 
A  strong  point  in  favor  of  the  policy  of  compromise, 
which  would  neither  entirely  discard  the  old  nor 
entirely  repudiate  the  new,  was  that  it  had  the  pros- 
pect of  becoming  more  powerful  in  Europe  than 
either  of  the  other  courses,  and  gaining  ground 
among  the  rabbis  as  well  as  in  the  congregations. 

Such  a  policy  could,  of  course,  not  be  realized  un- 
til the  two  extremes  had  each  attained  complete 
spiritual  expression.  Its  basis  is  historic  Judaism, 
the  scientific  knowledge  of  which  it  has  been  the 
most  efficient  agent  in  promoting  to  this  day. 

The  exponent  of  this  middle  course  was  Zacha- 
rias  Frankel  (1801-1875).  He  came  forward  with 
his  program  at  a  time  when  the  more  progressive 
among  the  rabbis  had  put  themselves  into  friendly 


41 

relations  with  the  Reformvereine  in  Berlin  and 
Frankfort-on-the-Main.  In  his  articles  and  books 
Zacharias  Frankel  defended  his  principles  with 
moral  earnestness,  disinterested  piety,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  comprehensive  learning  and  entire  free- 
dom from  extreme  views  and  visionary  enthusiasm. 
His  manner  was  such  as  to  arouse  warm  sympathy 
even  among  those  who  differed  with  him.  A 
large  number  of  cultivated  rabbis  and  Jewish 
scholars  who  shared  his  views  grouped  themselves 
about  Frankel.  The  Jewish  Theological  Seminary 
founded  by  him  at  Breslau  was  the  first  alma  mater 
of  Jewish  learning  in  which  the  principle  of  historic 
Judaism  attained  full  expression.  The  other  rab- 
binical seminaries  and  high  schools,  at  Berlin, 
Vienna,  Paris,  London,  and  Cincinnati,  adopted  this 
principle  in  slightly  varying  degrees. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  the  different  policies 
and  parties  had  to  maintain  a  long  struggle  for 
existence ;  but  the  details  of  the  conflicts  among 
reform,  orthodoxy,  and  conservatism  as  yet  form  no 
part  of  history,  since  it  appears  impossible  to  fit  ideas, 
while  they  are  still  in  the  rapid  flux  of  historical 
development,  and  before  their  ultimate  goal  can  be 
discerned,  into  the  Procrustean  bed  of  critical  cat- 
egories and  scholastic  concepts.  Only  this  can  be 
said  with  certainty,  that  all  three  tendencies  have 
a  definite  group  of  adherents,  that  each  has  found 
representatives  in  the  field  of  literature,  and  that 
each  in  its  province  has  accomplished  much  that 
is  important  and  good.  It  would  be  absurd  to  say 
that  one  party  has  been  the  conqueror.  Such  judg- 


42  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

ment  would  be  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  history.  To 
the  unbiassed  observer,  raised  above  party  issues,  it 
seems  like  an  indisputable  fact  that  in  Europe  eft 
least  the  party  of  more  moderate  reform  has  gained 
greatest  headway.  One  thing  cannot  be  denied, 
that  three  great  achievements  accomplished  solely  by 
this  party  have  through  it  worked  for  the  common 
weal  of  the  whole  body  of  religious  Jews.  The  three 
achievements  are :  a  well-regulated  public  service, 
sermons  delivered  in  the  language  of  the  land,  and 
systematic  religious  instruction.  One  cannot  esti- 
mate these  achievements  too  highly,  for  after  a 
period  of  utter  degeneration,  Judaism,  through 
them,  was  brought  back  to  introspection  and  a  self- 
conscious  purpose. 

Another  result  not  to  be  despised  is  that  the  vari- 
ous parties  exist  peaceably  alongside  each  other, 
and,  with  petty  exceptions,  have  learned  to  respect 
each  other.  It  is  true  that  we  have  attained  this 
end  only  through  severe  and  bitter  conflicts ;  but  we 
have  reached  a  point  for  which  we  should  be  grate- 
ful, a  point  from  which  we  can  look  down  with  scorn 
upon  a  reform  that  has  learned  nothing  and  an 
orthodoxy  that  has  forgotten  nothing.  To-day  we 
want  only  to  be  Jews,  honorable  Jews,  true  to  our 
convictions,  and  conscious  of  our  history  with  its 
great,  long  past,  yet  looking  freely  into  the  needs 
of  the  present  and  the  demands  of  the  future.  Such 
Jews  there  are  in  America  as  well  as  in  Europe ;  but 
in  Europe  it  was  the  Jews  of  Germany  who  were 
most  deeply  stirred  by  the  spiritual  conflict.  Weak 
endeavors  at  reform,  it  is  true,  led  to  a  schism  in 


IN   THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  43 

London,  but  in  general  the  reform  of  the  ritual 
was  effected  in  England,  France,  and  even  Austria 
with  comparatively  little  effort.  Radical  reform,  as 
I  said  before,  found  most  adherents  among  the  Jews 
of  America,  though  the  conservative  element  also 
counted  enthusiastic  representatives.  Opposed  to 
Isaac  Leeser,  leader  of  the  conservatives,  stood  Isaac 
M.  Wise  (1819-1899),  a  man  of  uncommon  energy 
and  ability,  who,  together  with  men  such  as  David 
Einhorn,  Samuel  Hirsch,  and  S.  Adler,  won  victory 
for  the  cause  of  reform  in  the  United  States.  The 
significance  of  the  reform  movement  in  America  is 
that  the  principle  has  been  established  for  the  country 
once  for  all. 

But  raised  above  every  individual  endeavor  is  the 
great  duty  of  bringing  before  our  eyes  more  and 
more  clearly  the  significance  of  Israel's  history  in 
the  past  and  the  present  and  its  import  for  the 
future,  its  great  moral  lesson,  and  its  exalted 
mission.  We  should  make  fast  for  all  times  the 
high  and  sacred  bonds  which  have  always  joined 
the  Jews  into  one  religious  community,  and  we  must 
never  voluntarily  yield  the  consciousness  that  we 
each  and  all  of  us  belong  to  a  united  Israel. 


44  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 


III 

The  review  of  facts  in  the  two  previous  sections 
leads  us  up  to  the  threshold  of  the  present,  and 
the  nearer  we  get  to  our  own  times  the  more  difficult 
the  way  becomes.  For  there  is  no  harder  task  than 
an  objective  presentation  of  incidents  that  one  has 
lived  through  oneself.  Nevertheless,  such  a  presen- 
tation is  an  urgent  necessity.  In  the  buzz  and  whirr 
of  everyday  affairs,  in  the  haste  of  modern  existence, 
we  seldom  reach  a  resting-place  from  which  we  can 
gain  an  all-embracing  view  of  actual  events. 

The  year  1870  opened  up  a  new  era.  The  last 
third  of  the  nineteenth  century  began  under  favor- 
able auspices  for  the  Jews.  With  slight  exceptions 
all  European  legislatures  were  earnestly  endeavoring 
to  grant  the  Jews  political  emancipation;  and  even 
social  emancipation  had  made  great  progress.  The 
constitution  of  the  Confederation  of  North  German 
States,  which  was  later  adopted  throughout  the 
German  realm,  even  if  it  did  not  remove  every 
restriction  put  upon  the  Jews,  set  aside  all  laws 
denying  them  political  rights.  After  the  battle  of 
Koniggratz,  the  period  of  liberal  political  views 
began  in  Austria;  Hungary  was  granted  "home 
rule  "  ;  in  both  lands  the  last  barriers 'were  torn  down 
that  had  hemmed  in  emancipation ;  and  in  Italy,  too, 
after  the  triumph  of  the  Piedmontese,  the  Jews  were 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  45 

granted  all  civic  rights.  Even  Russia  adopted 
milder  regulations  for  the  Jews.  In  the  practice 
of  their  religion  and  from  an  economic  standpoint, 
they  were  allowed  to  develop  themselves  freely. 
In  fact,  during  the  decade  from  1870  to  1880  great 
advances  were  made  in  the  spiritual  and  social 
status  of  the  Jews  in  Russia. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  formation  of  the  new 
German  Empire  established  and  strengthened  the 
dominion  of  liberal  ideas  throughout  Europe.  "  In 
all  cultivated  circles  it  was  '  good  form '  to  oppose 
religious  fanaticism,  to  stigmatize,  as  mediaeval, 
brutality,  intolerance  toward  those  who  profess 
another  belief,  notably,  toward  a  minority  which  in 
no  case  strives  for  undue  power.  A  child  of  the 
nineteenth  century  should  not  be  guilty  of  such 
intolerance,  in  so  far  as  he  would  not  set  himself  in 
opposition  to  the  humane  ideas  of  the  time."  The 
following  incident  is  characteristic  of  the  spirit 
which  prevailed  in  the  early  years  after  the  founda- 
tion of  the  German  Empire.  When  the  Evangelical 
Church  issued  an  intolerant  decree  against  apos- 
tasy to  Judaism,  the  Jewish  community  protested, 
and,  what  is  very  much  more,  prominent  Christian 
citizens  of  Berlin  addressed  a  letter  of  appreciation 
to  the  trustees  of  the  Jewish  community  thanking  it 
for  the  protest,  and  declaring  that  "  far  from  sharing 
or  countenancing  the  hateful  thoughts  laid  bare  by 
the  decree,  they  absolutely  and  entirely  repudiated 
them." 

A  spirit  of  religious  forbearance  and  general 
humanity  pervaded  unified  Germany,  in  fact,  the 


46  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

whole  of  Occidental  Europe;  and  it  is  readily  con- 
ceivable that  the  Jews  should  have  given  eager 
expression  to  their  gratitude  in  an  attempt  at  com- 
plete assimilation.  This  endeavor  to  identify  their 
ideals  with  those  of  the  nations  among  whom  they 
lived  is  one  of  the  characteristic  tendencies  of  the 
time.  Despite  exaggerations  and  excesses,  it  incon- 
testably  accomplished  much  that  was  good.  A  liv- 
ing proof  is  provided  by  those  Jewish  men  who 
attained  to  high  rank  in  the  political,  economic,  and 
spiritual  life  of  Germany,  France,  England,  and 
America.  Gustav  Freytag  justly  designates,  as 
one  of  the  finest  achievements  that  German  history 
can  record,  the  fact  that  for  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  the  German  Jews,  preserving  their  strength 
as  a  race,  have  steadily  raised  themselves,  and,  with 
each  step  forward  in  culture  and  humanity,  have 
bound  themselves  more  closely  to  the  German  nation. 
"  In  that  time  they  [the  Jewish  German  and  other 
German  citizens]  gradually  became  allies,  friends, 
co-workers  in  all  fields  of  practical  and  ideal  life. 
Innumerable  are  the  names  of  those  Jews  who 
deserve  honor  for  their  patriotic  and  their  benevo- 
lent activity  in  their  capacity  of  thinkers,  scholars, 
artists,  or  as  influential  business  men  and  simple 
citizens.  It  may  be  asserted  with  truth,  that  each 
advance  made  by  our  legislature  toward  the  assur- 
ance of  all  their  civic  rights  was  also  a  step  toward 
the  complete  incorporation  of  their  mind  and  soul 
into  German  life." 

Evidence  of  this  sort  from  men  like  Freytag  is 
certainly  one  of  the  most  valuable  historic  documents 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  47 

in  favor  of  the  assimilation  of  the  Jews  about  to  be 
consummated. 

However,  there  was  another  side  to  the  shield. 
In  their  ardor  to  merge  themselves  completely  with 
the  nation  at  large,  many  Jews  went  too  far.  Here 
and  there,  one  found  persons  who  believed  that  com- 
plete identification  was  possible  only  if  the  Jews  gave 
up  the  peculiar  religious  character  that  distinguished 
them  from  others.  These  persons  overlooked  the 
fact  that  in  Germany  and  in  other  countries  repre- 
sentatives of  various  religions  lived  peaceably  side 
by  side,  undisturbed  by  differences  in  religious  views 
and  customs.  They  forgot  that  nearly  fifty  years 
before  a  man  like  Gabriel  Riesser  had  demanded 
emancipation  without  reserve,  and  had  wanted  it  to 
be  granted  without  reserve.  He  rejected  with  indig- 
nation the  idea  of  buying  the  sacred  right  of  freedom 
at  the  price  of  religion.  He  said :  "  That  we  con- 
ceive right  and  freedom  differently,  that  we  are 
striving  with  all  our  might  to  attain  a  higher  liberty 
in  a  different  way  from  the  one  indicated  by  others, 
and  that  we  are  determined  so  to  strive  with  the 
last  breath  of  our  being — this  it  is  which  makes  us 
worthy  to  be  Germans  and  to  be  called  Germans. 
The  sonorous  tones  of  the  German  language,  the 
songs  of  the  German  poets  have  kindled  and 
nourished  the  sacred  fire  of  German  freedom  in  our 
breasts.  We  want  to  belong  to  the  German  father- 
land, we  will  belong  to  it  in  all  respects.  It  can 
and  may  demand  of  us  everything  that  it  is  justified 
in  demanding  of  its  citizens.  We  will  sacrifice 
everything  to  it  willingly — only  not  religion  and 


48  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

faith  and  truth  and  honor ;  for  Germany's  heroes 
and  Germany's  scholars  have  not  taught  us  that  one 
becomes  a  German  through  a  sacrifice  of  this  kind." 

These  words  are  different  from  the  words  of 
those  who  called  for  assimilation  at  any  price,  and 
who  a  generation  later  came  with  plans  and 
propositions,  the  only  analogy  to  which  is  found 
at  the  time  of  the  great  conflict  in  Palestine  between 
Judaism  and  Hellenism,  when  the  so-called  "  rich 
Jews  "  had  no  higher  aim,  no  more  ardent  desire 
than  assimilation  with  the  Greeks.  The  name  given 
the  tendency  at  that  time  was  epimixein. 

Moreover,  the  ethnologic  aspect  of  the  question 
was  also  completely  overlooked.  Some  great  inves- 
tigators maintain  that  the  Jewish  race  is  one  of  the 
primary  divisions  of  the  human  kind,  which  will  go 
on  reproducing  its  distinctive  type  despite  the  most 
varied  climatic  influences.  They  say  that  in  the 
course  of  centuries  the  Jewish  type  has  remained 
the  same.  Others  assert  that  the  peculiar  physi- 
ognomy of  the  Jews  and  their  manner  of  life,  instead 
of  being  a  racial  phenomenon,  is  rather  the  result 
of  social  compulsion,  which  has  pressed  upon  them 
for  hundreds  of  years.  These  two  views  can  hardly 
be  reconciled ;  but  so  much  is  certain,  that  it  is 
scarcely  possible  to  deny  or  disavow  each  distinctive 
sign  of  the  specific  Jewish  type.  No  sort  of  assimi- 
lation will  make  the  hooked  nose  straight,  no 
baptismal  water  will  smooth  out  the  curly  hair. 
Heinrich  Brugsch,  the  celebrated  Egyptologist,  was 
fond  of  calling  attention  to  the  fact,  that  the  Egyptian 
monuments  discovered  by  him  on  the  western  side 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  $) 

of  the  mountain  at  Thebes,  which  date  from  the 
time  of  Moses,  show  the  same  types  in  the  Jewish 
slaves  and  taskmasters  as  are  found  among  the 
Jews  of  the  present  day.  And  Jacob  Moleschott 
tells  in  his  physiological  notebook  of  the  son  of  a 
baptized  Jew  who  could  not  be  gotten  away  from  his 
mirror  in  the  morning,  because  he  was  untiring  in 
his  efforts  to  change  his  curly  hair  into  straight 
hair  with  his  comb  and  other  instruments. 

Even  intermarriage,  which  was  urged  by  the 
assimilationists,  can  do  little  toward  wiping  out  the 
differences  between  Jews  and  others.  Ethnologic 
investigators  adduce  remarkable  examples  in  proof 
of  this  fact.  One  of  them  says :  "  As  is  well  known, 
when  there  is  a  cross  between  the  Indo-Germanic 
and  the  Mongolian  races,  the  Mongolian  type  pre- 
vails. The  Russian  aristocracy,  in  whose  veins  there 
is  a  slight  admixture  of  Mongolian  blood,  still  bears 
marks  of  the  Mongolian.  Among  my  colleagues, 
there  is  a  Russian  nobleman,  who,  like  all  genuine 
Russian  boyars,  betrays  his  Mongolian  origin  by  his 
figure,  and  his  Indo-Germanic  origin,  by  his  intellect. 
He  married  a  Polish  Jewess,  and  had  a  number  of 
sons  by  her,  who  all  have  a  strikingly  Jewish  appear- 
ance." 

Thus,  it  is  evident  that  Jews  have  not  succeeded  in 
throwing  off  their  earmarks  by  means  of  baptism,  or 
even  baptism  by  immersion,  as  it  were,  in  the 
ocean  of  races  that  surrounds  them.  For  the 
Jewish  type  is  indestructible,  and  the  Jews  may  boast 
of  their  noble  physiognomy,  full  of  character,  which 
hardly  differs  from  that  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  In 


5O  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

fact,  the  Jewish  face  surpasses  the  Greek  in  its 
expressiveness  and  in  moral  earnestness.  To  the 
unprejudiced  observer  it  will  remain  as  a  distinct  im- 
press of  the  most  ancient  aristocracy  among  the  peo- 
ples of  the  earth. 

The  over-zealous  assimilationists  have  disregarded 
this  point ;  and  I  recall  exactly  how  one  of  their 
leaders  in  a  public  address  told  his  auditors,  who 
were  in  an  attitude  of  undivided  attention,  that  we 
must  liken  ourselves  to  our  non-Jewish  co-citizens 
in  all  externals,  even  in  our  walk  and  our  gestures. 
He  overlooked  the  fact  that  all  trees  do  not  bear 
the  same  bark,  and  ethnologic  differences  that 
have  maintained  themselves  for  thousands  of  years 
cannot  all  of  a  sudden  be  decreed  out  of  existence. 

This  very  excess  of  zeal  in  time  necessarily  called 
forth  a  violent  reaction.  The  same  people  who  had 
advised  complete  assimilation  for  the  Jews  suddenly 
felt  that  their  endeavors  for  it  were  arrogant  and  to 
be  deprecated,  that  they  were  an  intrusion  into  the 
sphere  of  national  affairs,  and  the  like.  The  preva- 
lence of  humane  ideas  had  been  merely  a  brilliant 
episode;  and  the  last  manifestation  of  the  humane 
spirit  was  the  decision  of  the  Berlin  Congress,  that 
Roumania  was  to  be  independent  only  if  it  gave  its 
citizens  equal  rights  with  one  another  regardless  of 
religious  belief. 

Now  began,  slowly  but  surely,  that  terrible  move- 
ment called  anti-Semitism,  the  most  fateful  in  the 
historic  development  of  modern  Judaism.  The 
movement,  it  is  true,  has  reached  its  highwater  mark. 
Whatever  one  may  say  about  it  when  considering 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  5 1 

it  from  an  historico-philosophic  or  from  an  economic 
standpoint,  it  is  and  remains  that  ancient  agony, 
Jewbaiting,  Jew-hatred,  which  has  broken  forth  ever 
and  again  since  the  Crusades,  and  now  assumes  a 
different  form  in  its  manifestations  on  account  of  the 
different  conditions  of  the  time.  Persecution  of  old 
was  more  clearly  defined :  the  Jews  were  robbed,  or 
killed,  or  forced  to  adopt  Christianity.  Naturally,  in 
our  times,  the  weapons  of  anti-Semitism  are  not 
rapine  and  murder;  but  in  substituting  other 
weapons,  anti-Semitism  becomes  far  more  fearful 
and  implacable.  It  investigates  genealogies,  even  of 
Christians,  and  traces  them  back  to  some  far  distant 
time ;  it  declares  that  a  stain  rests  upon  even  the  re- 
motest posterity  of  intermarriage  between  Christians 
and  Jewish  converts  to  Christianity.  A  German 
historian  put  the  matter  very  well  when  he  said  that  a 
German  who  maintains  ideas  of  this  kind,  does  not 
take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  he  lays  upon 
his  own  ancestors  the  heavy  guilt  of  having  "  tor- 
tured "  certain  faults  into  the  Jewish  character. 

It  is  not  my  purpose,  however,  to  refute  the  pre- 
judices and  ward  off  the  attacks  of  anti-Semitism, 
but  merely  to  consider  in  a  few  words  the  historic 
development  of  the  movement  within  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century.  Of  course,  the  causes  and  grounds  for 
anti-Semitism,  its  methods  of  warfare,  and  its  aims, 
must  be  discussed  at  the  same  time ;  and  the  causes 
and  grounds  for  another  movement,  called  philo- 
Semitism,  cannot  be  excluded  from  consideration. 
The  origin  of  anti-Semitism  dates  as  far  back  as 
1875.  Germany  was  then  undergoing  the  throes  of 


52  JEWS    AND   JUDAISM 

an  economic  crisis,  which  was  hastened  by  swindling 
schemes,  by  hazardous  financial  enterprises,  and  the 
like.  On  February  7,  1873,  Eduard  Lasker  de- 
livered his  famous  speech  against  these  mischievous 
evils.  Without  doubt,  the  fight  begun  by  Lasker 
originated  in  the  noblest  motives,  the  purest 
sentiments,  and  a  courage  rare  in  Germany  at 
that  time.  On  the  other  hand,  it  cannot  be  disputed 
that  Lasker  was  not  able  to  carry  the  purifying  pro- 
cess he  had  undertaken  to  a  conclusion ;  and  from 
this  fact  developed  the  first  germ  of  a  new  hostile 
movement.  Its  chief  champion  was  Otto  Glagau, 
who  created  a  sensation  at  the  time  by  his  essays 
upon  the  manipulation  of  stocks  and  the  dishonest 
formation  of  companies  in  Berlin.  At  the  same  time 
five  famous  articles  appeared  in  the  Kreuz- 
seitung  of  Berlin,  the  organ  of  Junkerthum,  the 
party  with  whom  hatred  of  the  Jew  was  a  deep- 
seated  prejudice.  The  five  articles  were  written 
upon  the  Bleichroder-Camphausen-Delbruck  regime. 
The  Catholic  Germania  called  them  "  Articles  upon 
the  Jewish  management  of  affairs  in  Prussia  and 
Germany,"  and  followed  them  up  in  its  own  num- 
bers by  a  series  of  articles  upon  the  Jews. 

Without  a  doubt  the  movement  was  called  into  be- 
ing after  1875  by  the  Junkers  and  clericals,  and  the 
assertion  of  the  historian  Treitschke  is  false,  that  he 
had  seen  the  movement  begin  to  grow  a  decade 
earlier.  According  to  him,  it  would  have  dated  from 
the  latter  half  of  the  "  sixties ;  "  and  this  seems  to 
rest  upon  an  entirely  unhistorical  basis. 

After  Glagau  had  cleared  the  way,  a  varied  array 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  53 

of  veteran  liberals,  Catholic  priests,  German  judges, 
and  Protestant  court  ministers,  followed  him  to  the 
battlefield  armed  with  their  screeds  against  the  Jews. 
Die  goldene  Internationale  ("  The  golden  inter- 
national ")  was  the  watchword  of  modern  Jew- 
baiting,  which  ever  assumed  greater  proportions. 
The  wealth  of  Bleichroder,  which  was  surely  not  due 
to  Jewish  influence,  was  the  rallying  cry  of  those 
who  entertained  the  most  violent  hatred  and  envy  of 
the  Jews. 

This  animosity  was  fanned  into  flames  from  var- 
ious sides.  There  were  Catholic  clergymen,  like 
August  Rohling,  who  came  out  against  the  Talmud 
and  against  the  Jewish  religion,  and  even  dared 
dish  up  again  the  old  fable  of  ritual  murder.  This 
was  the  religious  aspect  of  anti-Semitism;  besides, 
there  was  economic  anti-Semitism,  which  was  di- 
rected against  manipulations  on  the  stock  exchange, 
against  dishonest  "  promoting,"  and  against  the 
political  influence  of  the  Jews.  Finally  there  devel- 
oped the  so-called  philosophic  hatred  of  the  Jew. 
This  had  its  root  in  the  works  of  Schopenhauer ;  and 
with  Eugen  Duhring  and  his  colleagues  it  may  fairly 
be  said  to  have  reached  the  level  of  savage  fa- 
naticism. 

Despite  these  various  phases,  the  foundation  of  \ 
anti-Semitism  in  all  its  aspects  was  economic  and  so-  /' 
cial.     This  is  proved  by  the  turn  taken  by  affairs 
in  the  following  years.     After  the  liberal  economic 
policy  came  the  agrarian  policy,  concerning  itself 
with    social   conditions   and   questions   of   revenue. 
Liberalism  was  attacked,  the  religious  and  clerical 


54  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

element  came  to  the  front,  and  the  economic  troubles 
of  the  young  empire  as  well  as  the  alarming  acces- 
sions to  the  Social  Democratic  party  sounded  the 
warning  to  wide  circles  of  people,  that  it  was  im- 
perative to  put  up  a  new  social  and  political  pro- 
gram. This  necessity,  combined  with  conservative 
interests  in  Church  and  State,  led  to  the  foundation 
of  the  Christian  Social  Workingmen's  Party.  In 
the  foreground  of  the  new  movement  stood  the 
court  preacher  Adolf  Stocker,  who  was  the  author 
of  the  fateful  words :  "  All  the  evils  of  our  eco- 
nomic life,  ....  which  have  matured  the  noxious 
fruit  of  Social  Democracy,  are  to  be  traced  in  the 
last  resort  to  the  Jews."  This  dictum  made  a  deep 
and  widespread  impression.  Attacks  upon  the 
Christian  Socialists  from  the  side  of  the  liberals 
provoked  violent  opposition  in  turn.  Judaism  was 
supposed  to  lurk  behind  the  mask  of  liberalism,  and 
all  acts  of  aggression  against  liberals  were  directed 
also  against  the  Jews. 

Anti-Semitism  did  not  continue  to  be  confined 
to  the  press  and  to  workingmen's  meetings.  In 
1880  it  began  to  extend  to  the  lecture  rooms  of  the 
universities,  and  the  students  became  the  standard- 
bearers  of  the  bitter  persecution.  It  seemed  good  in 
the  eyes  of  the  persecutors  to  clothe  their  movement 
in  the  mantle  of  patriotism  and  the  German  national 
spirit.  It  was  H.  von  Treitschke  who  uttered  the 
fateful  words :  "  The  Jews  are  our  misfortune." 
Treitschke  was  a  high-minded  man,  of  pure  inten- 
tions, but  one-sided  and  of  passionate  impulses,which 
blinded  him  to  many  phenomena  in  modern  life.  The 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  55 

words  scarcely  uttered,  the  people  seized  upon  them, 
and  the  opposition  between  Jewish  and  German 
ways  became  the  battle-cry  and  watchword  of  the 
parties  in  the  political  strife.  In  the  same  year 
(1880),  the  Anti-Semitic  League  was  founded  at 
Berlin,  an'd  a  petition  to  the  Chancellor  was  circu- 
lated, which  was  called  the  first  political  step  toward 
"  the  restraint  of  Jewish  power."  In  March  inter- 
pellations upon  the  Jewish  question  were  introduced 
in  the  Prussian  Chamber  of  Deputies  and  in  the 
German  Reichstag,  on  which  occasions  it  became 
apparent  how  little  the  leaders  of  the  various  anti- 
Semitic  factions  were  in  accord  with  one  another. 

The  petition,  it  is  true,  had  no  success ;  the  Chan- 
cellor would  not  even  receive  it ;  but  it  became  the 
point  of  departure  for  all  endeavors  whose  object  it 
was  to  limit  or  withdraw  the  political  liberties  of  the 
Jews,  which  all  of  a  sudden  people  were  inclined  to 
regard  as  a  mistake. 

In  other  countries  than  Germany,  popular  opinion 
in  regard  to  the  movement  was  at  first  rather  skepti- 
cal ;  but  soon  the  seed  of  the  evil  began  to  sprout  on 
non-German  soil  as  well.    Even  in  America  a  society"'1} 
for  the  suppression  of  the  Jewish  race  was  founded,  ' 
and  its  first  article  of  faith  was :  "  We  reject  the  Ten 
Commandments  given  us  by  the  Jew  Moses,  and 
we  promise  not  to  attend  any  church  in  which  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ  is  mentioned." 

The  same  year  brought  about  the  first  attempts  at 
self-defense  on  the  part  of  the  Jews.  Three  long, 
anxious  years  the  Jews  of  Germany  had  borne  all 
persecution  and  all  attack,  ever  hoping  and  trusting 


56  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

that  it  was  only  a  passing  storm.  Not  until  1880 
did  the  conviction  come  upon  them  that  they  had  a 
mighty  and  profound  movement  to  deal  with,  the 
outcome  of  which  was  still  incalculable.  Professor 
Moritz  Lazarus  performed  a  service  which,  in  my 
opinion,  has  not  been  sufficiently  recognized.  Two 
of  his  speeches  and  various  confidential  discussions 
had  the  effect  of  steadying  the  Jews  by  leading  to 
the  organization  of  their  efforts  at  resistance.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten  that  at  just  this  time  the 
Crown  Prince  Frederick,  later  Emperor  Frederick 
III,  before  the  door  of  the  new  synagogue  at  Berlin, 
said  to  Magnus,  city  councillor,  and  at  that  time 
president  of  the  Jewish  community :  "  Anti-Semi- 
tism is  the  disgrace  of  our  century."  Despite  many 
doubts  to  the  contrary,  it  has  been  proved  that  the 
author  of  this  sentence  was  actually  the  Emperor, 
who  thus  adequately  characterized  the  movement  in 
the  eyes  of  all  friends  of  progress  and  liberty. 

In  the  following  year  the  movement  was  car- 
ried over  into  Austria,  where  in  the  course  of  time 
it  has  assumed  a  threatening  aspect.  It  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  in  Vienna  the  Jews  are  politi- 
cally and  socially  outlawed.  Here,  the  effects  of 
the  financial  and  economic  crises,  the  conservative 
turn  in  politics,  the  self-assertion  of  the  non-Ger- 
man portion  of  the  nation,  the  unfortunate  quarrel 
over  language,  radical  Teutonism,  the  vacillating 
attitude  of  the  liberal  party,  the  growth  of  Social 
Democracy,  and,  finally,  the  rise  of  new  ideas,  prac- 
tical as  well  as  theoretic,  regarding  economic  af- 
fairs— all  this  created  indescribable  excitement  in 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  57 

Austria,  especially  in  Vienna.  Yet,  however  wide 
the  gaps  existing  between  the  various  views  and 
tendencies  of  Austrian  politics,  all  parties  are  agreed 
on  one  point,  on  anti-Semitism ;  and  singular  accord 
reigns  in  this  regard  among  the  Catholic  Ultramon- 
tanes,  the  Hussite  Czechs,  the  Knights  of  the  Ger- 
man Kaiserblume,  and  the  Heralds  of  the  Wotan 
Cult. 

The  saving  doctrine  of  anti-Semitism  now  went 
the  rounds  of  Europe.  It  reached  Russia  as 
an  import  from  Germany;  and  there,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  degree  of  culture  attained  in  this  coun- 
try, it  led  to  those  bloody  excesses  which  began  at 
Elizabethgrad  in  May,  1881,  and  for  two  years 
visited  various  parts  of  the  empire  like  a  plague. 
The  history  of  the  middle  ages  partially  repeated  it- 
self. Hundreds  of  Jews  fell  a  prey  to  the  fury  of 
the  goaded  mob,  hundreds  of  thousands  were  thrown 
into  misery  and  poverty,  Jewish  women  and  girls 
were  violated,  Jewish  houses  of  worship  were  de- 
stroyed. In  the  following  year  began  the  first  ritual 
murder  trial,  at  Tisza-Eszlar  in  Hungary.  Although 
it  ended  in  the  complete  and  honorable  acquittal  of 
the  accused  Jews,  it  was  the  commencement  of  a 
series  of  similar  trials,  which,  it  is  to  be  feared,  have 
not  yet  ended  with  those  of  Xanten,  Konitz,  and 
Polna.  In  so  far  as  Hungary  is  concerned,  the  trial 
was  a  turning  point  for  the  better ;  not  so  in  regard 
to  other  countries.  On  the  contrary,  anti-Semitism 
was  only  beginning  to  feel  its  power,  and  after  1886 
the  Allgemeine  deutsch-antisemitische  Vereinigung 
constituted  the  focus  for  the  persecution  of  the  Jews 


58  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

in  the  German  Empire.  At  the  elections  to  the 
Reichstag  in  1890,  the  anti-Semites  secured  five 
members.  Stocker,  who  had  been  discharged  from 
his  position  as  court  preacher,  opened  up  his  cam- 
paign anew  and  with  greater  violence  after  the  dis- 
missal of  Bismarck.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Verein- 
zur  Abwehr  des  Antisemitismus  was  founded  in 
Germany,  and,  in  conjunction  with  the  older 
body,  the  Comite  zur  Abwehr  antisemitischer 
Angriffe,  and  the  Centralverein  deutscher 
Staatsbiirger  judischen  Glaubens,  it  has  repre- 
sented the  interests  of  the  Jews  for  more 
than  a  decade.  The  worst  manifestation  is 
the  union  of  the  Conservatives  and  the  anti- 
Semites  ;  and  it  is  a  distressing  phenomenon  that  the 
Conservatives  have  not  been  disturbed  in  the  least 
by  the  grotesqueness  of  the  anti-Semitic  leader  Her- 
mann Ahlwardt.  Now  people  began  "  to  get  at  the 
real  kernel  of  anti-Semitism,  to  pick  out  what 
there  was  of  truth  and  justice  in  it,  to  force  the 
course  of  the  mad  current  into  a  fixed  channel,  and 
so  to  make  its  strength  useful  in  the  life  of  the  Ger- 
mans." This  was  the  task  set  the  Conservatives  for 
the  immediate  future. 

Finally,  anti-Semitism  encroached  upon  France, 
too,  where  it  made  its  first  appearance,  it  is  true, 
in  the  form  of  prejudice  against  the  Germans.  Now, 
in  full  flower  and  fanned  into  activity  by  the  Drey- 
fus affair,  it  constitutes  one  of  the  saddest  incidents 
in  the  history  of  modern  culture. 

The  final  aim  of  anti-Semitism  is  the  complete 
separation  of  the  Jewish  from  the  German  element. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  59 

The  absurd  master  of  ceremonies  of  the  anti-Semitic 
party,  Hermann  Ahlwardt,  himself  betrayed  the 
final  aim  of  anti-Semitism,  when  in  a  people's  meet- 
ing, where  he  was  decorated  with  a  crown  of  laurels, 
he  availed  himself  of  a  quotation  from  a  would-be 
liberal  journal  to  say  that  the  laurel  wreath  would 
not  be  entirely  merited  until  the  last  Jew  had 
boarded  the  last  ship.  And  the  anti-Semitism  of  the 
Berlin  streets  betrays  the  same  final  aim,  when  one 
of  Ahlwardt's  mob  forces  into  the  hands  of  Jewish 
passers-by  tickets  to  Palestine  with  the  return  for- 
bidden. 

Anti-Semites  lost  no  time  in  pointing  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  Chinese  from  the  United  States  and 
using  it  in  all  seriousness  as  an  example  which 
would  gradually  prepare  the  way  in  public  opinion 
for  sentiment  in  favor  of  the  expulsion  of  the  Jew. 
This  radical,  ranting  anti-Semitism  has  seen  its 
day.  But  far  worse  and  more  dangerous  is  the  anti- 
Semitism  of  moderation.  It  does  not  wish  to  do 
away  with  the  emancipation  already  granted  the 
Jews ;  but,  within  the  limits  prescribed,  it  endeavors 
to  keep  Jews  out  of  office  and  political  life  in  gen- 
eral. It  does  not  want  Jewish  judges  to  administer 
.the  oath  to  Christians,  and  it  seeks  to  close  the 
gates  of  the  empire  to  Jewish  new-comers.  Unfor- 
tunately, this  partial  anti-Semitism  is  with  us  still 
in  the  new  century,  and  the  time  cannot  yet  be  seen 
when  it  will  once  more  yield  ground  to  the  high 
power  of  humanity,  to  the  sacred  doctrine  of  univer- 
sal love  of  man  for  man.  But  it  is  our  firm  hope, 
our  steady  goal  for  the  new  century,  that  some  time 


60  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

it  will  have  to  yield.  We  trust  the  German  poet, 
who  in  the  worst  moments  of  the  movement  said 
with  prophetic  certainty:  "The  message  from  Judaea 
will  conquer  the  hatred  that  exists  between  race  and 
religion,  so  that  posterity  will  smile  at  it  as  at  an  old 
historic  legend." 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  6l 


IV 

In  such  gloomy  days  it  was  an  important  duty 
to  encourage  and  console  the  disheartened  hosts  of 
Israel  in  all  lands  whither  the  plague  of  anti-Semi- 
tism had  spread.  Like  a  prophet  on  the  watch- 
tower,  scrutinizing  the  phenomena  of  his  time,  ap- 
peared Chayim  Steinthal,  the  never-to-be-forgotten 
exhorter  and  comforter.  He  said  to  Israel :  "  '  Fear 
not,  thou  worm  Jacob,'  so  spake  the  Prophet  of 
consolation  in  his  early  brief  addresses  delivered 
when  the  Jews  of  Babylonia  thought  they  saw, 
thought  they  had  seen,  certain  destruction  before 
them.  Defend  thyself,  O  Jew.  If  there  never  was 
so  unfortunate  a  people  as  thou  art,  yet  there  never 
was  a  people  with  so  gentle  a  comforter  as  he  who 
began,  nay,  who  begins :  '  Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye, 
my  people.'  '  Fear  not,  thou  worm  Jacob.'  Be 
proud  in  God,  and  in  none  but  Him.  What  is 
pride  in  God?  Humility.  Let  no  idle  words  of 
what  you  are  or  are  not  confuse  you.  If  their  re- 
proach strikes  home,  examine  yourselves,  and  mend 
your  ways ;  if  not,  proceed  calmly  in  the  old  paths. 
If  it  strikes  home,  but  you  decide,  after  careful  in- 
trospection, that  it  does  not  matter  much,  that  on 
the  contrary  your  conduct  is  good  and  proper,  then 
persist.  One  thing,  however,  consider :  We  are  sur- 
rounded by  enemies,  who  spy  out  our  weak  points, 


62  JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

But  Israel  is  a  woman,  and  of  women  we  are  told 
that  she  is  best  of  whom  least  is  said.  Well,  then, 
be  seen  as  little  as  possible,  and  do  as  much  good  as 
possible.  Be  not  afraid  for  the  terror  of  threaten- 
ing night,  nor  for  the  arrow  that  flieth  by  day 
(frankly  brutal  anti-Semitism),  nor  for  the  pestil- 
ence that  walketh  in  darkness  (hidden,  more  refined 
anti-Semitism),  nor  for  the  destruction  that  wasteth 
at  noonday  (the  apostasy  of  the  faithless)  :  God 
watcheth  on  high."  Such  exhortations  and  warn- 
ings were  urgently  needed,  for  discouragement  had 
seized  upon  many  circles.  No  sooner  was  there  a 
slight  abatement  in  the  virulence  of  anti-Semitism 
than  many  took  refuge  in  flight,  not  shrinking  from 
the  dishonor  the  world  fastens  upon  the  deserter 
on  the  eve  of  battle.  However,  the  defection  turned 
out  to  be  less  grave  than  at  the  time  it  threatened 
to  become. 

This  explains  why  particularly  the  younger  men, 
in  despair  over  shattered  ideals,  were  thrown  into 
a  state  of  excitement  by  the  new  catchword  of  Zion- 
ism cast  into  the  maelstrom  in  1896  by  Theodore 
Herzl,  a  clever  journalist.  In  my  opinion  Zionism 
is  not  a  main  current  of  Jewish  history,  but  un- 
deniably it  has  the  importance  of  an  underset  ac- 
companying the  main  current,  as  in  the  spring  time 
a  cold  and  a  warm  stream  mingle  in  the  rivers. 
Zionism  is  the  expression  of  despair.  It  seeks  the 
solution  of  the  Jewish  problem  and  the  end  of  all 
confusion,  not  in  the  steady,  victorious  advances  of 
humanity  and  liberty,  but  solely  and  alone  in  the 
restoration  of  Jewish  nationality,  that  is,  in  self- 
liberation. 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  63 

In  Judaism  all  such  questions  must  be  dealt  with 
from  the  religious  point  of  view  and  in  an  historical 
spirit,  not  under  the  stress  of  passing  needs  and 
temporary  phenomena.  Israel  is  still  what  it  always 
was,  a  religious  brotherhood.  Herein  lies  its  pecu- 
liarity, its  individuality.  In  remote  antiquity  Israel 
conceived  its  task  to  have  been  expressed  in  the 
prophet's  admonition,  to  be  "  for  a  light  to  the  Gen- 
tiles," and  bring  "  salvation  unto  the  end  of  the 
earth  "  (Isaiah  49 :  6) .  More  than  this,  it  is  par  ex- 
cellence the  historical  task  of  Judaism  to  combat  the 
tendency  toward  national  particularism.  Granted 
the  brief  premises  here  adduced,  and  there  can  logi- 
cally be  but  the  one  conclusion :  were  Judaism 
to  revive  the  national  sentiment  in  its  adherents, 
it  would  commit  suicide.  The  lowest  stage  of  re- 
ligious development  is  the  stage  of  a  national  reli- 
gion, the  highest  the  stage  of  a  world-religion. 
We  Jews  having  mounted  from  step  to  step,  now 
being  close  to  the  desired  goal  of  a  world-religion, 
Zionism  would  have  us  return  to  the  primitive  stage 
of  a  national  religion.  If  that  is  not  self-destruction, 
then  historical  development  is  other  than  I  take  it  to 
be.  Since  the  overthrow  of  the  Temple,  Israel's 
vocation  consists  in  influencing  mankind  spiritually, 
and  hastening  the  Messianic  age  of  reconciliation  be- 
tween nation  and  nation.  Even  in  the  middle  ages 
the  ideal  of  Judaism  was  the  Malchut  Shaddai,  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  For  the  realization  of 
this  ideal,  the  Jew  prayed  on  the  most  sacred  festi- 
vals of  the  year — he  prayed  that  God  unite  the  whole 
of  mankind  in  the  desire  to  accomplish  the  will  of 


64  JEWS    AND    JUDAISM 

God.  From  this  point  of  view  the  history  of  the 
Diaspora  is  one  of  the  most  glorious  portions  of 
Jewish  history,  for  during  the  long  dispersion 
Judaism  has  demonstrated  its  indestructibility,  and 
proved  itself  far  more  than  a  mere  national  forma- 
tion.. 

The  revival  of  Jewish  consciousness  coincided  with 
efforts  to  colonize  Palestine ;  but  these  two  move- 
ments have  nothing  in  common  with  each  other. 
Indeed,  it  is  beyond  dispute  that  Zionism  has  in- 
flicted considerable  injury  upon  the  idea  of  coloniza- 
tion, which  before  its  advent  had  borne  good  fruit. 
In  the  cause  of  the  colonization  of  Palestine  all 
Jews  can  grow  enthusiastic,  but  not  all  can  endorse 
the  Zionist  movement,  and  so  Palestine  coloniza- 
tion must  suffer  through  being  identified  with  Zion- 
ism. Those  of  us  who  cannot  accept  the  reading  of 
history  suggested  by  Zionist  philosophy,  continue 
to  hope  and  work  for  the  realization  of  the  pro- 
phetic word  that  raises  Israel's  task  high  above  all 
national  barriers  into  the  rare  atmosphere  of  univer- 
sal ideals :  "  And  the  Lord  shall  be  king  over  all  the 
earth:  in  that  day  shall  the  Lord  be  one  and  His 
name  one." 

But  a  little  more  and  we  shall  have  completed  our 
journey  through  the  nineteenth  century.  Before  we 
take  leave  of  it,  let  us  pass  in  review  all  the  various 
movements  which,  mingling  with  the  last  of  the 
seven  currents,  fill  out  the  frame  of  the  period. 

To  the  calmer  vision  of  the  historian  who  with- 
draws himself  from  the  breathless  bustle  of  daily  life 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  65 

and  examines  it,  it  would  seem  that  Israel  has  passed 
its  crisis  successfully.  A  separation  has  come  about 
between  Jews  and  Jews.  The  dry  leaves,  the  speckled 
fruit,  have  dropped  from  the  tree.  Those  who  have 
weathered  the  storm,  and  have  emerged  from  its 
fury  steadfast  adherents  of  the  Sinaitic  faith,  have 
attained  to  the  tranquillity  and  exaltation  of  spirit 
that  are  a  pledge  for  the  future  of  Judaism.  But, 
alas !  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  fallen  leaves 
were  not  all  dry,  not  all  withered.  A  glance  at  the 
great  "  valley  of  bones,"  to  use  the  Prophet  Ezekiel's 
figure,  shows  an  astonishing  array  of  strength  and 
power  of  which  we  have  been  stripped  by  apostasy 
and  baptism  in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury— a  wealth  of  intelligence  and  spiritual  capital 
lost  and  lost  irrevocably. 

Statistics  on  the  subject  vary  curiously.  The  mis- 
sionaries put  the  number  of  Jews  baptized  in  Eu- 
rope in  the  last  century  at  a  hundred  thousand ; 
professional  statisticians,  whose  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject is  merely  scientific,  at  twelve  thousand.  The 
former  obviously  exaggerate,  the  latter  as  obviously 
underestimate.  Trustworthy  results  are  out  of  the 
question,  because  no  figures  can  be  obtained  for  the 
Roman  Catholic  or  the  Greek  Catholic  Church,  nor 
for  freethinkers  and  dissidents  of  all  kinds.  Such 
figures  as  I  can  marshal  here  represent  no  more  than 
a  torso,  though  none  the  less  interesting  and  signi- 
ficant for  being  a  torso,  for  it  is  unfortunately  a  fact 
that  apostasy  in  the  nineteenth  century  occurred 
most  frequently  among  the  Jews  of  Germany,  and 
the  statistics  of  conversion  to  Protestantism  are 
fairly  accurate. 


66  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

For  the  years  between  1816  and  1843,  3273  cases 
of  baptism  of  Jews  are  recorded,  121  annually,  in  a 
population  of  160,000.  To  these  Berlin  contributed 
a  large  number,  one  hundred  cases  in  the  single 
year  1825.  For  the  years  1844-1871  we  have  no 
figures,  but  the  number  could  not  have  been  less 
than  two  thousand,  including  725  for  Berlin  alone. 
In  the  years  1872-1888  we  have  2195,  that  is,  an 
annual  average  of  129  in  a  population  of  three  hun- 
dred thousand  in  round  numbers,  Berlin  maintain- 
ing its  unenviable  pre-eminence.  Between  1816  and 
1888,  8300  Jews  were  baptized  in  the  whole  of  Ger- 
many, Berlin  claiming  three  thousand  of  the  total 
number,  and  to  these  conversions  to  Protestantism 
we  must  probably  add  four  thousand  conversions  to 
Catholicism. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  the  period  of  anti- 
Jewish  demonstrations,  that  is,  the  last  quarter  of  the 
century,  there  was  a  perceptible  diminution  of  the 
tendency  toward  apostasy  and  conversions.  In  the 
fourteen  years  from  1874  to  1887,  the  flood-tide  of 
anti-Semitism,  nineteen  hundred  Jews  turned  their 
backs  on  Judaism,  135  annually,  fully  one-half  of 
them  in  Berlin. 

The  investigator  of  this  class  of  phenomena  must 
not  neglect  to  take  into  account  a  peculiar  modifica- 
tion. A  special  canon  has  been  established:  It  ill 
becomes  a  Jew,  the  would-be  renegade  reasons,  to 
change  his  faith ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  folly  to 
bring  up  children  in  a  faith  that  has  long  become  in- 
different to  the  parents,  who  fail  to  abandon  it 
merely  because  they  happen  to  have  been  born  into 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  67 

it.  One's  children,  however,  ought  to  be  spared 
difficulties  and  the  martyrdom  involved  in  being  a 
Jew.  What  will  not  parents  do  for  their  children? 
The  silliness  and  insincerity  of  such  argumenta- 
tion need  no  exposure.  Is  it  better  to  do  wrong 
than  to  suffer  wrong?  Is  it  proof  of  one's  aris- 
tocracy to  toady  to  a  class  of  persons  who  now  ex- 
clude Jews  from  their  circles  and  admit  them  the 
instant  they — utter  a  lie?  Does  society  sanction  the 
conduct  of  a  man  who,  having  suffered  a  wrong, 
makes  no  attempt  to  protest  against  it,  but  yields  his 
ground,  and  slinks  away  like  a  coward,  only  to  lead 
his  children  into  the  camp  of  those  who  wronged 
him?  It  is  unjust  to  relieve  one's  children  of  the 
necessity  of  independent  action,  presumptuous  to 
regulate  their  religion  and  their  future  autocratically. 
These  are  concerns  to  be  left  to  their  mature  deci- 
sion. Add  to  this  pedagogic  consideration  the  fact 
that  the  life  of  the  baptized  Jew  has  not  been  made 
particularly  pleasant  by  anti-Semitism.  Race-hatred 
pursues  the  "  Jew  descendants  "  unto  the  third  and 
the  fourth  generation.  Finally,  if  a  father,  to  make 
life  comfortable  for  his  children,  repudiates  his  own 
fathers  because  they  were  persecuted,  how  can  char- 
acter and  a  sense  of  honor  be  generated  in  the  chil- 
dren, and  when  the  children  have  attained  to  sub- 
stance and  rank  in  a  state  that  continues  to  put  a 
premium  on  apostasy,  what  shall  prevent  them  from 
repudiating  their  aged  father  and  mother  in  turn? 
The  prophet  has  depicted  such  conditions :  "  The 
son  dishonoreth  the  father,  the  daughter  riseth  up 
against  her  mother,  the  daughter-in-law  against  her 


68  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

mother-in-law  "  (Micah  7:6).  They  who  might  have 
been  united  in  soul  and  spirit  are  torn  asunder  and 
estranged  by  religion,  the  very  factor  that  should  have 
been  the  bond  of  union  transcending  all  differences. 
The  father  of  to-day  must  suffer  the  presence  of  the 
scoffer  at  his  own  table,  must  submit  to  the  desecra- 
tion of  his  sanctuary  by  members  of  his  household 
whom  he  has  reared  to  manhood  and  womanhood, 
those  whom  he  supported  with  the  sweat  of  his 
brow  and  the  sacrifice  of  his  blood,  and  established 
in  a  dignified  position  by  his  blessing.  That  is  the 
fate  many  of  our  brethren  have  suffered  in  our  days, 
the  fate  that  is  inflicting  the  most  pitiful  sorrow  upon 
the  best  in  Israel.  We  have  seen  children  deny  their 
dead  fathers,  abjure  the  old  faith,  and  remove,  as 
though  it  were  a  blemish  and  a  stigma,  the  name  that 
had  been  borne  in  honor,  and  this  has  happened  to 
the  proudest  and  best-known  names  in  Israel,  of 
good  repute  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  Then  it  is 
not  astonishing  to  find  many  a  one  who  harbors 
anger  in  his  heart  against  his  living  father  on 
account  of  the  attachment  and  the  affection  he  still 
feels  for  the  old  faith.  He  counts  the  days  until 
the  time  of  mourning  for  his  father  shall  come, 
when  all  constraint  will  be  put  aside,  and  he  may 
rend  and  cast  off  the  weak  bonds  that  link  him 
to  his  p.eople  and  their  religion,  and,  assuming 
the  new  God  and  the  new  religion  like  a  new 
garment,  make  his  peace  with  the  world,  while 
he  stands  by  his  father's  open  grave.  Such  .is 
the  promise  held  out  by  the  fashionable  baptism  of 
minor  children.  But  no,  the  baptismal  water  trans- 


IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  69 

forms  no  Jew  into  a  German,  so  say  the  anti- 
Semites;  and  the  certificate  of  baptism  is  not  an 
admission  ticket  to  European  culture,  so  say  all  men 
of  humane  views. 

There  can  be  no  objection  to  conversions  from 
conviction.  Every  creed  exacts  and  deserves  re- 
spect. The  Jew  deems  it  presumptuous  to  speak 
in  derogation  of  any  religion  and  its  ceremonies. 
Every  religion  is  a  sanctuary,  to  every  religion  the 
Scriptural  sentence  may  be  applied :  "  Put  off  thy 
shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  here  is  holy  ground." 
Our  anger  and  our  scorn  strike  only  those  who  are 
absolutely  destitute  of  ethical  feeling,  and  change 
their  faith  for  materialistic  reasons  and  from  prac- 
tical considerations.  It  is  a  sad  fact,  but  one  that 
must  be  set  down  in  clear  words,  that  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  conversions  in  the  nineteenth 
century  can  be  traced  to  such  ulterior  motives. 
With  frivolity  that  is  downright  'frightful,  faiths  are 
changed  to-day  as  one  changes  clothes.  The  levity 
of  the  converts  is  at  last  beginning  to  arouse  anxiety 
in  the  clergy  themselves,  they  who  once  rejoiced 
over  the  Jew-converts.  For  instance,  the  late  chief 
court  preacher  at  Berlin,  Dr.  Rudolf  Kogel,  a 
Protestant,  relates  in  his  "  Reminiscences :  "  "  With 
all  signs  of  impatient  haste,  a  Jewish  banker  entered 
my  room :  '  I  wish  to  be  baptized.' — '  May  I  ask 
you  to  state  your  motives  for  the  step  ?  '  I  replied. — 
'  Motives !  Suffice  it  to  say  that  I  have  given  serious 
thought  to  the  matter.'  '  But  as  a  clergyman  I  must 
be  acquainted  with  the  motives  for  your  resolve ; 
I  have  no  desire  to  add  one  more  to  the  number  of 


7O  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

those  who  are  Christians  only  in  name ;  as  it  is,  there 
are  more  than  enough  of  them.'  '  Very  well/  said 
the  Jew,  aggrieved,  and  rising  from  his  seat,  '  I  shall 
apply  to  some  other  clergyman  who  takes  his  voca- 
tion less  seriously.' "  The  reporter  of  this  incident 
was  an  earnest  and  trustworthy  man.  Instances  of 
such  frivolity  might  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  They 
have  become  the  subject  of  popular  wit:  they  tell  of 
a  clergyman  in  Berlin  who  advertises  that  he  will 
perform  baptisms  painlessly  with  laughing  gas. 

Fifty  years  ago  Abraham  Geiger  remonstrated 
with  a  Jew  who  was  arranging  for  his  own  and  his 
children's  reception  into  the  Church  in  this  non- 
chalant way.  "  You  are  a  business  man,"  he  said. 
"  Suppose  an  honorable  broker  were  to  submit  a 
lucrative  business  proposition  to  you.  In  spite  of 
your  confidence  in  him,  would  you  not  investigate 
the  matter  carefully  ?  And  that  is  only  a  question  of 
money.  Yet  in  a  matter  of  conscience,  in  a  question 
affecting  your  whole  life,  you  would  yield  blind 
obedience  to  the  clergyman-mediator  ?  " 

Christianity  requires  a  sort  of  faith  to  which  the 
Jew  by  birth  finds  it  hard  to  subscribe.  We  cannot 
utter  the  faintest  reproach  against  the  Jew  whose 
conscience  permits  him  to  pronounce  the  apostolic 
confession  of  faith.  We  can  only  express  the  hope 
that  the  new  religion  will  grant  him  the  happiness 
he  apparently  sought  in  vain  in  the  old  religion.  But 
the  Jew  who  frivolously  and  for  frivolous  reasons 
swears  allegiance  to  the  Christian  faith,  is  a  perjured 
rascal.  At  all  times  and  among  all  nations  perjury 
has  justly  been  regarded  as  a  most  serious,  a  most 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  7! 

dishonoring-  crime.  There  can  be  nothing  more 
shameless  than  the  solemn  invocation  of  God,  the 
Almighty  and  All-Knowing,  to  witness  the  utterance 
of  a  word  which  for  him  who  utters  it  contains  a 
conscious  lie.  And  how  threadbare  the  reasons  with 
which  they  gloss  over  their  actions !  They  say  there 
are  Christians  who  pronounce  the  Christian  confes- 
sion of  faith  without  believing  in  it.  They  choose 
to  overlook  the  difference  between  the  members  of 
a  community  by  birth,  and  the  individual  who  dis- 
tinctly takes  measures  to  enter  into  the  community. 
The  first  is  part  of  it  without  a  formal  explanation 
of  his  relation  to  it.  Within  the  community  he  has 
the  right  to  urge  his  views,  be  they  never  so  far  re- 
moved from  the  prevailing  views.  With  the  recent 
convert  it  is  quite  otherwise.  He  must  express  his 
adherence  to  the  prevailing  views  in  order  that  the 
portals  of  the  new  religion  shall  be  opened  for  him. 
He  would  enter  with  an  unjustifiable  lie,  were  he  to 
make  a  lip-confession  that  finds  no  echo  in  his  heart. 
He  has  no  right  to  join  a  community  with  the  in- 
tention of  shaking  the  foundations  of  its  faith. 

Christianity  itself  is  beginning  to  complain  of  the 
corroding,  disintegrating  influence  of  the  neophytes 
— a  corroboration  from  outside  of  the  view  of  our 
sages,  who  warned  Judaism  against  every  form  of 
missionary  effort.  "  Proselytes,"  they  said,  "  are 
leprosy  for  Israel." 

We  can  ill  afford,  however,  to  concern  ourselves 
with  the  conditions,  the  thought-currents,  the  cares 
that  perplex  other  religious  communities,  seeing  we 
have  more  than  we  can  deal  with  in  our  own  camp. 


^2  JEWS  AND  JUDAISM 

It  lies  with  us  to  prevent  our  religion  from  becoming 
an  object  of  barter  to  our  children.  We  must  see 
to  it  that  they  abandon  the  faith  of  their  fathers 
neither  from  vanity,  nor  from  the  desire  for  a  high 
social  position  and  for  titles,  nor,  worst  of  all,  for 
the  sake  of  material  gain.  By  upright  dealing  with 
our  fellow-men,  by  honorable  conduct,  by  strength 
and  purity  of  character,  we  must  make  ourselves 
exemplars  for  the  younger  generation.  No  oppor- 
tunity should  be  allowed  to  pass  by  without  empha- 
sizing the  Jew's  capacity  for  development  within  the 
modern  life.  We  must  constantly  reiterate  for  the 
benefit  of  our  children  what  the  modern  poet  says  to 
his  friends :  "  O,  I  understand  well  how  for  very 
pride  the  proud  lion  throws  off  his  royal  robe  of  fur, 
and  disguises  himself  in  the  crocodile's  iridescent, 
scaly  coat  of  mail.  It  has  grown  fashionable  to  be 
a  whining,  sly,  voracious  crocodile.  But  if  the 
lion  hides  his  identity,  what  shall  become  of  the 
lesser  beasts  ?  Take  heed,  Don  Isaac,  thou  wert  not 
created  for  the  crocodile's  element.  Water — thou 
knowest  whereof  I  speak — is  thy  misfortune,  and 
thou  wilt  sink  in  it.  Not  in  the  water  is  thy  realm. 
The  slenderest  trout  can  flourish  in  it  better  than  the 
monarch  of  the  forest." 

For  the  rest,  if  discouragement  seizes  upon  us 
when  we  observe  the  defection  about  us,  we  must 
resort  to  the  prophet  for  consolation :  "  And  if 
there  be  yet  a  tenth  in  it,  and  it  return,  and  the  holy 
spark  be  kindled  in  it,  then,  as  the  terebinth  and 
the  oak  when  they  are  felled  put  forth  new  shoots, 
a  holy  stock  will  keep  within  it  its  [Israel's]  sub- 
stance "  (Isaiah  6:  13). 


IN    THE   NINETEENTH    CENTURY  73 

It  is  not  going  too  far  to  say  that  in  a  measure 
the  prophecy  of  Isaiah  has  been  fulfilled.  From  out 
of  the  midst  of  troubles,  aberrations,  and  confusion, 
there  rose  triumphant,  in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  idea  of 
the  re-birth  of  Judaism.  This  is  the  last  of  the  cur- 
rents we  shall  have  to  consider  to  complete  the 
history  of  the  century. 

What  Prince  Bismarck  once  called  "  practical 
Christianity "  has  its  effective  counterpart  in  the 
Jewish  world.  Self-knowledge  has  stimulated  the 
Jewish  communal  conscience.  The  Jews  the  world 
over  have  come  to  recognize  that  centralization 
of  force,  concentration  of  effort,  is  imperative  as 
an  antidote  to  threatening  decline.  The  recognition 
of  this  necessity  lies  at  the  root  of  a  variety  of 
endeavors,  which  present  a  pleasing  vista  of  creative 
activity.  Jewish  communities  everywhere,  whether 
autonomous  or  under  state  control,  are  working 
zealously  for  the  welfare  and  advancement  of  con- 
gregational life.  The  three  great  Alliances  with  their 
affiliated  branches  are  safeguarding  the  interests  of 
Jews  in  all  parts  of  the  world  where  they  suffer  as 
Jews.  Unions  of  congregations  reinforce  the  bond 
holding  together  the  scattered  members  of  the  Jew- 
ish communion.  Countless  elementary  and  higher 
schools  provide  systematic  instruction  in  the  Jewish 
religion.  Numerous  associations  are  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  popular  education,  award  stipends,  and 
raise  funds  for  libraries  and  schools.  An  equal 
number  of  associations  aim  to  spread  the  knowledge 
of  Jewish  history  and  literature,  and  their  efforts  are 


74  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

reaching  ever-widening  circles  of  interested  mem- 
bers. Seminaries  for  rabbis  and  teachers  replenish 
the  ranks  of  our  spiritual  leaders.  Besides  all  these 
there  remain  to  be  enumerated  religious  schools ; 
conferences  of  rabbis  and  teachers ;  funds  and  asso- 
ciations for  the  benefit  of  communal  officials ;  en- 
dowed institutes  for  the  promotion  of  trades  and 
agriculture  among  Jews ;  labor  bureaus ;  secret 
orders  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  elevation  of  the 
Jewish  community;  institutions  for  the  professional 
education  and  the  betterment  of  the  position  of 
women ;  orphan  asylums ;  homes  for  the  aged  and 
the  infirm ;  hospitals  and  sanitariums,  whose  support 
entails  a  sacrifice  of  means  and  personal  effort  that 
is  beyond  praise;  training  schools  for  nurses,  socie- 
ties for  temporary  relief  and  against  itinerant  men- 
dicancy, etc.  All  this  the  Jews  have  created  out  of 
nothing,  as  it  were :  governments  did  not  aid  them, 
with  one  exception  they  owe  nothing  to  a  great 
Maecenas.  The  exception  may  not  be  passed  over 
in  silence.  Baron  Maurice  de  Hirsch's  care  of  the 
persecuted  Jew,  by  institutions  and  funds,  in  Argen- 
tine, in  North  America,  in  Russia,  and  in  Galicia, 
must  be  classed  with  the  greatest  achievements  in 
philanthropy  in  the  nineteenth  century.  But  the 
bulk  of  the  newly-created  charitable  and  educational 
institutions  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  have  their 
origin  in  the  self-denying  generosity  of  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole.  And  the  end  of  this  develop- 
ment is  not  yet.  Every  day  brings  forth  new  plans 
and  projects,  new  institutions  and  achievements. 
Everywhere  there  is  life  and  movement ;  a  thousand 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  75 

forces  are  active  in  the  interest  of  our  communal 
welfare. 

We  may  justly  attach  great  hopes  to  this  last  of  the 
spiritual  currents  which  the  nineteenth  century  has 
bequeathed  to  the  twentieth.  It  presages  a  regen- 
eration. With  a  wise  recognition  of  the  modern 
spirit  it  has  directed  all  its  force  toward  the  social 
field,  on  which  the  final,  titanic  conflicts  to  be  waged 
by  mankind  will  reach  their  settlement. 

To  some  it  may  seem  not  a  little  curious  that 
so  tiny  a  community  as  the  Jewish  community  is, 
should  have  the  courage  to  enter  the  lists  for  the 
great  social  combat  impending.  A  glance  at  the 
appalling  upheavals  of  our  time  might  well  suffice  to 
rob  the  Jew  of  courage.  What  mighty  forces  are 
unchained,  what  demoniac  powers  are  raging  with- 
out cease!  How  many  forms  and  materials,  how 
many  movements  and  currents,  our  time  has 
gathered  up  into  its  bosom!  How  they  will  be 
poured  into  one  mould,  it  remains  for  a  dark  future 
to  show.  The  bonds  of  religious  reverence  have 
long  been  relaxed  ;  the  very  forces  of  nature  seem  to 
be  unbound,  and  from  her  eternal  secrets  the  seven 
seals  are  about  to  drop.  All  the  political  problems 
that  have  ever  perplexed  mankind  again  affright  the 
present  generation,  and  will  not  be  banished.  To 
the  calm  of  days  within  the  memory  of  some  still 
alive  has  succeeded  a  precipitate  activity,  a  feverish 
unrest  with  no  promise  of  quiet.  The  whirr  of 
machinery,  the  snort  of  steam,  the  quiver  of  the 
electric  wire  passing  through  the  very  heart  of  the 
present,  all  combine  to  strike  terror  to  our  inmost 


76  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

souls.  And  like  an  awful  sphinx  at  the  portals 
of  the  new  century  stands  the  hollow-eyed  spectre 
of  the  social  question,  admonishing,  cautioning, 
threatening 

What  will  be  the  end  ?  The  various  epochs  in  the 
history  of  mankind  show  no  synchronistic  develop- 
ment. Therefore  must  we  tremble.  At  any  mo- 
ment, no  one  knows  when,  the  great  decisions  may 
be  rendered  which  will  give  birth  to  the  religion 
and  the  life  principle  of  the  future.  This  religion 
of  the  future  shall  not  be  born  without  our 
assistance.  The  Jews  must  be  present.  The  future 
lies  dark  before  us.  No  one  can  be  certain  that  it 
will  establish  the  reign  of  light.  But  in  no  circum- 
stances can  Israel's  record  be  lost.  It  will  remain 
clear  until  the  end  of  time,  for  "  Israel  was  the 
first  to  give  articulate  form  to  the  people's  cry  of 
distress,  the  first  to  satisfy  the  complaints  of  the 
poor,  the  obstinate  claims  of  all  who  panted  after 
justice,  the  first  to  give  the  slave  the  opportunity 
of  speech."  Israel's  program  will  be  executed  only 
when  justice  prevails  in  every  spot  on  earth.  And 
this  answers  the  question  about  the  future  of  Juda- 
ism and  its  mission. 

The  miracle  of  Israel's  preservation  during  a 
period  of  three  thousand  years,  throughout  a 
sequence  of  at  least  a  hundred  generations,  has 
never  ceased  to  arouse  the  admiration  of  thoughtful 
men.  A  Catholic  preacher  of  the  last  century  in 
France  on  one  occasion  exclaimed  ecstatically: 
"  Build  a  tomb  for  the  Jew,  seal  it  with  impermeable 
cement,  surround  it  with  sentinels,  he  will  but  mock 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  77 

at  you,  and  will  emerge  once  more  to  prove  that  his 
race  is  of  a  spiritual  substance  which  you  do  not 
possess,  and  that  matter  has  no  power  over  spirit." 
And  a  Protestant  preacher  in  Germany  says : 
"  Israel  as  a  whole  has  always  been  and  still  remains 
indestructible  and  invincible.  It  is  more  than  a 
tangible  object,  more  than  a  mortal  person  or  nation ; 
it  is  equal  to  an  abstract  concept,  an  immortal  being. 
It  may  be  abjectly  despised  of  men  and  persecuted 
with  virulence,  but  they  cannot  eradicate  it."  Both 
the  Protestant  and  the  Catholic,  the  German  and  the 
Frenchman,  read  the  message  aright,  but  of  its 
fulfilment,  seeing  that  they  were  orthodox  Christ- 
ians, they  had  no  vision. 

This  mission  of  Israel  is  at  the  root  of  the  whole 
matter.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  belief  in 
it  is  the  base  supporting  the  greater  part  of  our 
literature,  from  the  first  verses  of  the  Pentateuch 
to  the  last  of  the  great  orations  of  our  prophets. 
They  all  are  instinct  with  the  spirit  of  the  verse  in 
Genesis :  I  have  called  him  because  "  I  know  him 
that  he  will  command  his  children  and  his  household 
after  him  to  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord,  to  do  justice 
and  judgment"  (Gen.  18:19).  More  than  three 
thousand  years  have  passed  since  the  promise  was 
given  to  Abraham,  and,  during  that  period,  how 
often  did  Israel  fail  to  perform  his  mission.  But 
his  defections  did  not  hinder  his  great  leaders  from 
pointing  to  his  mission  again  and  again,  and  express- 
ing the  hope  of  great  results  to  follow  from  its 
accomplishment.  Defection  is,  indeed,  not  a  new 
phenomenon  with  the  Jew.  Twenty-five  hundred 


78  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

years  ago  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  prophets  put  into 
vivid  words  the  contrast  between  the  ideal  set  before 
a  people  charged  with  a  mission  and  the  reality 
known  to  backsliding  Israel: 

Hear,  ye  deaf;  and  look,  ye  blind,  that  ye  may  see. 
Who  is  blind,  but  my  servant?  or  deaf,  as  my  messenger 
that  I  send?  Who  is  blind  as  he  that  is  at  peace  with  me, 
and  blind  as  the  Lord's  servant?  Thou  seest  many  things, 
but  thou  observest  not;  his  ears  are  open,  but  he  heareth 
not.  It  pleased  the  Lord,  for  his  righteousness'  sake,  to 
magnify  the  law,  and  make  it  honorable.  But  this  is  a 
people  robbed  and  spoiled ;  they  are  all  of  them  snared  in 
holes,  and  they  are  hid  in  prison  houses :  they  are  for  a 
prey,  and  none  delivereth;  for  a  spoil,  and  none  saith, 
Restore  ....  Who  gave  Jacob  for  a  spoil,  and  Israel  to 
the  robbers?  (Isaiah  42:  18-22;  24). 

Here  we  have  striking  proof  that  Israel  had 
attained  to.  self-knowledge  in  early  times.  Appar- 
ently the  conditions  that  called  forth  the  prophet's 
admonishing  words  were  not  very  different  from 
those  that  prevail  at  present.  The  exponent  of  the 
God-idea  is  deaf  to-day  as  he  was  then ;  of  scorn  a 
greater  portion  falls  to  his  lot  now  than  twenty-five 
hundred  years  ago.  Neither  obtuseness  within  nor 
contempt  from  without  prevented  the  prophet  from 
believing  firmly  in  the  future  of  his  people.  In 
inspired  words  he  proclaimed  their  mission  to  them : 

Behold  my  servant,  whom  I  uphold ;  my  chosen,  in  whom 
my  soul  delighteth:  I  have  put  my  spirit  upon  him;  he 
shall  bring  forth  judgment  to  the  nations.  He  shall  not 
cry,  nor  lift  up,  nor  cause  his  voice  to  be  heard  in  the  street. 
A  bruised  reed  shall  he  not  break,  and  the  smoking  flax 
shall  he  not  quench :  he  shall  bring  forth  judgment  in  truth. 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  79 

He  shall  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged,  till  he  have  set  judg- 
ment in  the  earth;  and  the  isles  shall  wait  for  his  law 
(Isaiah  42:  1-4). 

According  to  this,  as  a  brilliant  historian  aptly 
remarked,  the  apostle  of  the  •  God-idea  and  of  the 
moral  law  of  Sinai  is  to  be  at  once  priest  and  sacri- 
ficial victim.  Whenever,  in  gloomy  days,  a  doubt 
assailed  me,  and  I  questioned  whether  our  confi- 
dence was  not  misplaced,  our  hope  vain,  our  martyr- 
dom useless,  the  prophet's  holy  message  always  re- 
stored my  faith  in  the  future  of  Israel  and  in  his 
historic  mission.  Here  is  the  perspective  the 
prophet  discloses  to  our  mind's  eye: 

Listen,  O  isles,  unto  me;  and  hearken,  ye  peoples,  from 
far :  the  Lord  hath  called  me  from  the  womb ;  from  the 
bowels  of  my  mother  hath  he  made  mention  of  my  name ; 
and  he  hath  made  my  mouth  like  a  sharp  sword,  in  the 
shadow  of  his  hand  hath  he  hid  me ;  and  he  hath  made  me 
a  polished  shaft,  in  his  quiver  hath  he  kept  me  close :  and 
he  said  unto  me,  Thou  art  my  servant,  Israel,  in  whom  I 
will  be  glorified.  But  I  said,  I  have  labored  in  vain,  I 
have  spent  my  strength  for  naugkt  and  vanity:  yet  surely 
my  judgment  is  with  the  Lord,  and  my  recompense  with 
my  God.  And  now  saith  the  Lerd  that  formed  me  from 
the  womb  to  be  his  servant,  to  bring  Jacob  again  to  him, 
and  that  Israel  be  gathered  unto  him:  (for  I  am  honorable 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord,  and  my  God  is  become  my  strength  :) 
yea,  he  saith,  It  is  too  light  a  thing  that  thou  shouldest  be 
my  servant  to  raise  up  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  and  to  restore 
the  preserved  of  Israel :  I  will  also  give  thee  for  a  light  to 
the  nations,  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  (Isaiah  49: 
1-6). 

In  sublimer,  in  holier  terms  the  future  of  Israel 
cannot  be  thought.  So  long  as  religions  will  exist, 


8O  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

Judaism  shall  exist ;  and  when,  at  the  end  of  many 
days,  the  great  hope  of  all  poets  and  prophets  will 
be  fulfilled,  and  all  religions  will  be  united  in  one, 
then — this  must  be  our  firm,  unshakable  hope — this 
one  religion  will  be  the  religion  of  the  Jew,  purged 
of  all  dross  and  externalities.  This  hope  that  I  am 
expressing  is  not  personal  or  particularistic.  The 
greatest  thinkers  of  modern  times,  the  most  eminent 
investigators  in  the  field  of  comparative  religions, 
have  given  eloquent  expression  to  the  same  view. 
Ernest  Renan  says :  "  The  true  founders  of 
Christianity  are  those  great  prophets  who  proclaimed 
a  pure  religion,  divested  of  all  crass  forms,  living  in 
the  heart  and  mind  of  its  professors,  a  religion,  then, 
which  may  and  should  belong  to  all  mankind  alike, 
an  ideal  religion,  consisting  in  the  promulgation  of 
God's  kingdom  on  earth  and  in  the  hope  of  an  era  of 

justice  for  wretched  man The  glory  of 

Christianity  is  the  glory  of  Judaism.  The  world 
became  Jewish  in  the  measure  in  which  it  was  con- 
verted to  the  laws  of  mildness  and  humanity  incul- 
cated by  the  disciples  of  Jesus.  And  now,  seeing 
that  these  great  things  have  been  accomplished,  we 
may  say  with  confidence:  Judaism,  which  served 
us  so  well  in  the  past,  will  serve  us  equally  well  in 
the  future.  It  will  promote  the  cause  of  truth,  the 

cause  of  progress,  and  of  the  modern  spirit 

The  founders  of  the  liberal  dogma  in  religion,  I 
repeat,  are  your  old  prophets,  Isaiah,  the  authors 
of  the  Sibylline  books,  the  Jewish  school  of  Alex- 
andria, the  early  Christians,  the  successors  of  the 
prophets — they  are  the  genuine  originators  of  the 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  8l 

spirit  of  justice  in  the  world.  In  one  word,  the  pure 
religion  which  we  dream  of  as  the  bond  that  shall 
in  days  to  come  hold  together  the  whole  of  mankind 
in  one  communion,  will  be  the  realization  of  the 
religion  of  Isaiah,  the  ideal  Jewish  religion,  freed 
from  all  admixture  of  impurity." 

It  were  beside  the  mark  to  believe  such  views  the 
peculiar  property  of  Catholic  freethinkers.  Pro- 
fessor Berner,  a  consistent  Protestant,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  prominent  German  jurist,  says  in  a 
lecture  on  the  future  of  Israel  held  before  the 
German  Society  of  Protestants :  "  Down  to  the 
present  time  the  Jews  have  been  the  pioneers  of 
monotheism.  They  have  always  cherished  mon- 
otheism faithfully,  for  this  service  let  them  continue 
to  be  what  they  are.  The  renegades  who  are  com- 
ing to  us  from  them  have  no  value  for  us  religiously 
or  morally.  Every  case  of  apostasy  from  Judaism 
is  to  be  looked  upon  as  detrimental  to  the  develop- 
ment of  religion  to  the  highest  degree  of  purity 
and  truth.  Judaism  in  its  religious  separateness 
has  done  humanity  the  greatest  service.  The  religion 
of  the  future  will  be  a  Christianity  from  which  all 
dogmatic  padding  and  polytheistic  alloy  will  have 
been  removed,  and  which  will  be  refined  into  pure 
monotheism  by  the  renewed  intervention  of  Juda- 
ism." 

Such  witnesses  may  well  give  support  to  our  hope. 
Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  the  exalted  ideas  that 
form  the  original  sources  of  Judaism  have  not  yet 
been  fully  realized.  In  ancient  days  monotheism 
could  not  take  root,  and  later  the  rise  of  Christianity 


82  JEWS   AND   JUDAISM 

forced  the  leaders  of  Judaism  to  build  a  fence  about 
the  law.  The  Arabic-Aristotelian  philosophy  purged 
away  some  of  the  dross,  but  at  the  same  time 
burdened  Judaism  with  alien  elements.  Then  came 
the  Cabbala  with  its  twilight  of  fantastic  mysticism. 
Oppression  and  isolation  paralyzed  the  tendency 
toward  universalism.  In  short,  Judaism  in  suc- 
cessive ages  lacked  the  light,  the  great  free  spaces, 
which  are  indispensable  for  a  full,  symmetric 
unfolding  of  all  forces  and  ideas.  The  Jewish  race 
has  never  been  placed  in  the  position  in  which  it 
could  develop  unhampered  all  its  innate  capabili- 
ties while  its  faults  were  polished  away,  and  the 
contrasting  forces  that  impel  it  were  welded  into  a 
complete  unity.  In  spite  of  such  adverse  fortunes 
this  race  is  without  a  doubt  called  upon  to  play  an 
important  part  in  the  great,  final  decisions  between 
races  and  nations  with  which  the  new  century  is 
big.  That  is  the  opinion  of  a  famous  ethnographer 
who  describes  the  Jewish  race  with  the  following 
happy  antitheses:  A  race  which  is  able  to  live 
scattered  on  the  five  continents,  under  all  skies, 
among  all  peoples ;  which  is  equipped  with  the  most 
remarkable  talents,  wonderfully  blended  with  each 
other :  with  a  woman's  heart  and  a  man's  intellect,  a 
lively  fancy  and  an  acute  mind,  unlimited  receptivity, 
alert  appreciation  for  what  is  new  and  strange,  and 
practical  discernment,  wit,  and  earnestness,  ardor 
and  stability,  enthusiasm  and  discretion,  pathos  and 
sobriety,  pliability  and  defiance,  subjectivity  and 
capacity  for  devotion,  pride  and  humility,  the  gener- 
osity of  a  gentleman  and  the  frugality  of  a  day- 


IN    THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY  83 

laborer,  the  firmness  of  the  rock  and  the  fluidity  of 
water,  the  resistance  of  steel  and  the  malleability  of 
gold ;  which  unites  in  itself  Semitic,  Hamitic,  and 
Japhetitic  elements ;  which  has  produced  an  endless 
line  of  lawgivers,  prophets,  psalmists,  gnomic  poets, 
jurists,  casuists,  philosophers,  physicians,  statesmen, 
publicists,  political  economists,  musicians,  philo- 
logians,  historians,  merchants,  bankers,  manufac- 
turers— such  a  race,  when  once  it  attains  to  a 
position  of  peace  and  security,  in  which  it  may  freely 
unfold  its  powers,  smooth  down  the  asperities  of  its 
mental  make-up,  and  give  its  mind  the  severe  dis- 
cipline of  systematic  thought, — such  a  race  is  able 
to  climb  to  the  highest  round  of  the  ladder  of  human 
development,  for  it  is  the  designated  mediator  be- 
tween two  worlds,  the  world  of  the  Orient  and  of 
the  Occident,  whose  harmonization  is  a  task  for  the 
future  to  accomplish.  When  this  harmonization  has 
been  effected,  only  then  will  the  Jewish  race  have 
fulfilled  its  mission. 


®aftfmore 


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